Allegiant Re-Write
by Jakall
Summary: I am going to begin this story from the point in Allegiant where Tris, Tobias, Christina, Cara, Peter and Caleb leave the city and get dropped off in the abandoned waste. That's right. There will be none of this 'genetically pure/damaged' rubbish, Tris and the others uncover something much worse and it will take all of them to fight for their freedom and what's right.
1. Chapter 1

We all stood there, on the train tracks, in a chasm of crumbling concrete. The trucks had faded into the distance behind us and our way was forward. I had made this decision and I would stick with it. I put one foot forward and set off towards the West.

I barely even registered the others following me until Tobias leaned towards me and took my hand. He was warm and solid and I was glad in that moment that he was with me. I took courage from the fact that he would always be with me. We were doing this together, an entirely new world awaited us, or perhaps an old one.

I wonder how shattered a society would have to be to put their hope into a society of divided people. I thought that being divided somehow led to shared strength in our factions. Faction before blood and all… but I think there was always something deeply flawed about it. Maybe it's because it was all we were ever taught but towards the end there, even before all the factions dissolved and Evelyn took over, something felt wrong.

Why can't we be united? Why can't people be peaceful and ambitious or selfless and brave? Being selfless and brave is the definition of courage, my mother had it. She sacrificed herself for me in the ultimate act of courage. I won't let that be in vain.

I squeeze Tobias's hand and he looks at me and smiles a tiny crooked smile. I see that he is as nervous as I am about this new world and I smile back.

'A whole new world,' I whisper to him.

'We have to get there first,' he says with a small wistful look back at the city.

The chasm is slowly widening out and we can see over the walls. It is much the same as the city, a sort of neglect, maybe hurried escape, pervades the surrounds. There are remnants of concrete and twisted metal, foundations of houses and a lot of other rubbish pervading our line of site. But the biggest is the wilderness. The trees and bush are simply overtaking everything. Some looked old too. Like this area hadn't seen a human to chop it down in a hundred years. It made me wonder whether we were even going to find anything out here.

That set of another line of thought. What if the glimpses of the war in Edith Pryor's video didn't even exist anymore? What if we were the last human beings left on the planet? That was a sobering thought, and terrifying too. I have too many questions and not enough answers.

Cara and Caleb were talking in low voices together. I didn't really want to know what they were saying, probably some discussion of knowledge and serums and some such. Christina and Uriah followed us too but they were both silent looking about themselves warily. Peter was bringing up the rear taking everything in with narrow eyes and thin lips.

We kept walking until dawn gave way to morning. We stopped for food and water then kept walking. Christina was the first to complain.

'Urgh, my legs are killing me,' she burst out.

'You did dauntless training and you were fine,' says Uriah.

'But at least Dauntless training was interesting, all we're doing is watching a forest slowly grow. I think my legs are more tired from boredom than anything else.'

Truth be told my legs are starting to hurt too. It was the afternoon and we still hadn't come across any semblance of life. I was starting to worry. Maybe it would be better to get some kind of idea of this whole new world instead of just blindly walking into it. I say as much to Tobias.

'We should keep walking until nightfall. There's too much debris and forest in the way of seeing anything. We need to find a hill and survey the land in the dark. That way, if we see any lights, we'll know which way to go,' says Tobias. I nod to the good idea. He turns around and looks at the others for confirmation. They all look tired from our escape and the walk but they nod too. We set off again this time looking for some higher ground.

It comes in the form of a giant metal tower, a spire rising in the distance. We find a deserted road and cover the ground reasonably fast. But eventually we have to leave it for a straight path to the tower and it becomes slower and slower going.

We reach it as the sun dips into the ground in front of us. Swallowed up without a fight. The others find a squat concrete building at the base of the metal tower, the wooden door is almost rotted away but most of the ceiling is intact. They file inside and start setting up camp for the night. I stay outside with Tobias staring up at the tower. It is immense, reaching further into the sky than I would have thought possible for such a thin structure.

I turn to Tobias and see that he looks faintly ill. I smile.

'Just like old times, eh?' I laugh.

He looks at me with an incredulous look. 'There is no way in hell I am climbing that thing.'

'You climbed the Ferris wheel.'

'That was before I knew you were insane. I thought I should be a model instructor and keep you safe.'

I snort. 'I'm not the insane one that relives his fears all the time. Think of it as just another simulation. Although the aim of this one isn't to jump off the top,' I add.

He looks sick.

'I'm not helping am I?'

He shakes his head and gives me a please-shut-up look. So I do but I also draw him into my arms. I can feel his warmth under his shirt, his muscles are taught but they slowly relax into my embrace. I lean up to his mouth and he reaches down to mine.

'It'll be fine,' I breathe, 'you don't have to do this if you don't want to. I'll go up alone.'

'Not a chance,' he whispers back. I smile and kiss him again as our entwined shadows lengthen as the last rays of sun disappear into the twilight.

I walk inside and dump my pack. The others have started a small fire where part of the roof has collapsed so the smoke can escape. They are heating up cans of food and we pass them around like the Factionless. And I suppose that is what we are now. I don't want to admit it but we have left it all behind. We were alone.

I get one of the torches we have with us and tie it around my chest so I'll be able to see the metal struts in the dark. Tobias does the same looking more and more reluctant, his fingers fumbling around the rope. I catch them in my hands and kiss them, then take the rope and finish tying the knot for him. He tries to smile at me but it looks more like a grimace.

'Come on,' he mutters, 'time to climb to our deaths.'

'Don't be so morbid, Four,' says Christina, 'It'll be fun, we'll all be watching from the safety of the beautiful solid ground.'

I didn't think it was possible but his face drained of all colour.

'You're not helping,' I say out of the corner of my mouth.

'Oh, right… We'll be there in case you fall?' she gave me a questioning look.

'You're making it worse.'

'Can I have your stuff if you die?' Uriah asks with a smirk.

Tobias is staring at all of us with narrowed eyes. The force of his gaze is softened somewhat by the fact that it looks like he's going to spew at any second. I decide to take over.

'Come on, we may as well get this over with.' I grab his hand and lead him outside. 'I'm going first! So you can catch me if I fall.' I grin at him, the adrenaline is already pumping in my veins.

I grab onto the first strut and hoist myself up. This is going to be a very long climb.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: So, I had no idea how to add one of these in the first chapter before I published it but it turns out you only need to type it in… (I'm an idiot)**

**Anyway, as you may have gathered from the synopsis this is basically going to be my take on Allegiant. I never thought I would do this to a book, mainly because I always believed the Author is basically a god of his or her work and I have no right to mess with it.**

**But.**

**Allegiant sucked major ass. It was the worst book I've read in a long time and that says something because if I don't like a book I don't read it. It also says something that I persevered, and I discovered that it was because I loved the characters. But the injustice that is shoved onto them by the plot and situations in Allegiant made my blood boil. I didn't cry for Tris at the end because I didn't think her death was significant enough… And I goddamn LOVED Tris.**

**So, here I am attempting a Re-Write of a famous published author's work. I'm still struggling over whether or not I have a right to do this but, screw it, I'm going to do it anyway. You don't have to read it, or like it. It could be an even bigger train wreck than the original work but I'm going to attempt it anyway because it is a good exercise for my writing skills.**

**I apologise if Tris's 'voice' doesn't sound right to you but I've never tried anything like this before and I don't own the books so it's a bit difficult to reference. I'll do my best but if the lovey dovey scenes get cheesy and overworked please tell me. I have no idea how to write about human affection…**

**And that's another thing, if you have any suggestions or criticisms I would love to hear them! Tell me what you like and what you don't like and maybe I can get better as this goes on. **

**I will have a set of RULES before I start though.**

**1. No Tobias Chapters. (because I couldn't tell them apart while I was reading the book and I liked Four better as a mysterious badass)**

**2. There WILL be deaths. I'm not saying no one is safe, because I don't really expect Tris or Tobias to die at the end. But ANYTHING could happen so be prepared.**

**3. There might be the potential for more plot holes than the original. So if I don't explain something then I probably have no idea how it came about without addressing that there is a hole to begin with.**

**4. I am going to attempt NOT to Ret-Con most of the stuff in the first two books (e.g. Tris's mum, Pryor's video). The way it is set up though might call for a bit of forgiveness if I do.**

**So there you have it. Each chapter/segment I will aim for around 1000-1500 words and I hope to update at least 3 times a week. I'll see how it fits in with uni work…**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

My arms were starting to burn and we were only half way up the tower. Below me Tobias was muttering under his breath with a few choice swear words thrown in. I could hear a lot of repeating of 'insane' and 'idiots'.

I reach up and grab a hold of the next strut to pull myself up. The spacing of these was definitely not made with short people in mind and I suspected that was why I was beginning to tire. I concentrated on pulling and lifting and looking down to make sure Tobias was still below me. It was hard to judge distance in the dark but eventually we made it to near the top.

I pull myself up into a sitting position with my legs curled around one of the vertical struts. I hook my arms around the crossbeam and wait for Tobias to pull himself up.

We look around at the vast black landscape. It is difficult to make the distinction of where the horizon ends and the sky begins. The stars are far more vibrant closer to the sky than in the bright city. They shine over our heads, too many to possibly exist. I turn my head towards the city and see it on the horizon, tiny lights twinkling close to the ground. I wonder how the Allegiant are doing back in the city. I can only hope Evelyn hasn't started murdering everyone for treason yet. I turn my head away from the city that was my home for sixteen years. I can worry all I want about the people left inside, but unless we find people out here who can either help the situation or need or help then there is no point dwelling on it.

Tobias is breathing heavily but I think the dark is helping him cope. I turn my focus on the area to the east. There, just on the horizon I make out a red flash. Tobias sees it too and nudges me.

"I saw it," I say, and we both wait, hoping it will flash again.

"There it is," he mutters, but then I also see another red flash towards the north, fainter than this closer one so I didn't see it first. Tobias also sees one to the south of the original. Other than that though there is nothing else out here. It is dark, north to south. I let out my breath not knowing why I was holding it in the first place. What did I expect, the people who need us to be right on our doorstep?

"Come on, we should probably start down again," Tobias says.

I catch a hold of his hand and we sit there on top of this tower almost touching the stars. His hand is shaking slightly but he seems to relax as we hold each other on top of the world.

He lets go and slowly starts to haltingly climb down. I wait a little longer, knowing I'll be able to catch up reasonably fast. I breathe the air feeling the breeze brush past me carrying the first taste of winter. There is something fresh and exotic about the air, it is something… new. Well, we did have an entire new world to explore. I laugh and swing myself out into the full of the breeze, balancing on one leg and holding on with one arm. I splay myself out into the breeze and let myself fancy that it could take me away to dance among the stars.

"Tris! What the hell are you doing?" Tobias yells in a strangled voice.

I pull myself back in and start clambering down. I catch up to him and grin on my way past.

"Trying to touch the stars."

I make it to the bottom of the tower and wait for Tobias, catching my breath. The others come out and Cara asks what we saw.

"There's a line of flashing red lights from one point west of us stretching north and south from there. We'll have to see whether we can spot what they're coming from in the morning," I relay to them.

Cara looks thoughtful, but Uriah and Christina grin.

"We decided we'll be going up with you in the morning," says Uriah just as Tobias reaches the ground.

"Are you insane?" asks Tobias, "…Actually, don't answer. I am with a couple of Dauntless, the evidence is overwhelming."

Christina sticks her tongue out at him and Uriah pouts his lips out in a good-natured way. I can see the hurt and pain still in his eyes but slowly, I think he is starting to recover from his grief.

"Well, I'm going up again," I say, "I'll show you where it was coming from."

We all file back inside and Tobias goes over to Cara and starts talking to her in a low voice. I try not to notice as I sit beside Christina and Uriah complaining about menial things, such as lack of showers and toilets. My feet were starting to smell and I was trying to air them out without anyone noticing when Tobias comes back over to me.

"Any news?" I ask with my eyebrows raised.

"We have to cover a lot of ground tomorrow. We need to make it to those lights or we'll have to start foraging for food soon. We didn't bring much with us," he grimaces.

"Oh." I had completely forgotten about food in the scheme of things. We had no idea how long we were going to be out here and I had gotten caught up in the whole idea of escape from the city that I hadn't thought of what to do once we were out.

"What will we do if we run out?" I ask.

"We'll worry about it when it happens. In the meantime…" he draws me close to him and I forget about the world in the moment our lips touch.

We roll out our blankets beside each other. The ground is hard but somehow just holding onto him makes everything softer. We fall asleep entwined in each other's embrace taking comfort in knowing that, although the world is so vast and new, we would be there for each other in it.


	3. Chapter 3

We woke to a bruised sky, overcast with dark clouds. It smelled like it was going to rain and I had misgivings about going up the tower before a storm. Tobias was looking at the sky with an annoyed look.

"Go wake Uriah and Christina. You'll have to climb the tower now in case there's a storm."

"You're not coming?" I asked half hoping he would despite his fear.

"No," he turned away muttering and I hear him say 'crazy' again.

I walk over to where Uriah and Christina were sleeping. They are lying so close they are almost touching and I try to hide my raised eyebrows and slight smile as I shake them awake.

"What, what is it?" Christina mumbles cracking her eyes open slightly. She makes shooing movements with her hands above her face.

"We have to climb the tower now," I say, "A storm is coming and unless you want to get electrocuted, now is probably the only opportunity we get."

"Sleep now… Electrocution later…" she mumbles again with her eyes still closed.

Uriah jumped up the moment I touched his shoulder looking ready for anything. There was also a deep weariness behind his eyes; I don't think he got much sleep. He leans over Christina and shakes her shoulder.

"Where was all your bravado from last night?" he asks.

"Still sleeping, like normal people should be at this time…" she finally opens her eyes and sighs. "Can I have breakfast first?"

"No, we have to climb it now. I don't know how fast the storm is moving. Plus, delicious canned breakfast always tastes better after physical exercise." I say it with more optimism than I feel.

She gets up and we all file outside.

"Be careful," Tobias says to me as I put my hands on the first strut.

"I'm always careful," I reply. He raises his eyebrows and rolls his eyes but lets me go.

Scaling the tower is a lot easier this morning than it was in the dark. The struts are cold beneath my hands with the wind blowing in from the north with a decisive chill. Uriah and Christina are both below me climbing steadily. We make it up to around the point Tobias and I climbed to last night. It looks much higher in the daylight and I try to keep myself from looking at the tiny specks at the base of the tower. Dammit, too late, and I cling closer to the tower as we push higher.

We reach a point where it is too narrow for us to go any further. The view out in the distance is terrifying and exhilarating. I can feel the blood pumping in my ears as I look out at the vast curvature of the earth. It all seems much bigger now that we're not in a city. I turn my eyes towards our city and spot its large towers there on the horizon, along with what is left of the lake. It looks like we've come much further than I thought. I look towards the west where we saw the blinking lights last night.

There. Faintly I see another red flash in the distance. I point them out to Uriah and Christina who are still looking slack jawed at the view. Christina narrows her eyes as she takes it in.

I try to look closer at what the flashing is. It seems like way out there is a grey tower, perhaps only a quarter the size of this one and just visible amongst the rubble surrounds and encroaching forest.

"A wall," I hear Uriah breathe. And there, sure enough, is a thin grey line pushing off from the tower both north and south. I turn my gaze towards them and see faintly in the distance another of the towers, the tell-tale flash of red just visible in the dark of the coming storm.

We all start climbing down again, conscious of the darkening skies. We reach the ground and relay our findings to the others. Cara looks as thoughtful as ever, she doesn't say very much, but I can practically hear the gears turning in her mind. I try not to look at Caleb. I still can't see him without being reminded of Erudite headquarters. He and Peter stand away from the five of us, looking a bit dejected, except for the hardness on Peter's face. I would feel sorry for them if they weren't traitorous bastards.

We have a quick meal of cold tinned fruit and hard crackers before Tobias gets us all moving in the direction of the wall. I feel excited at the prospect of meeting these people outside the fence. I still wasn't sure what Edith Pryor's video meant about saving them but maybe we would find out soon.

We keep walking as the storm slowly rolls towards us. We can all feel the electricity in the air and the distant rumble of thunder. The sky overhead was roiling and we began to look for places we could take shelter in. We were on an old road, it was bumpy and full of potholes but it also seemed _used_. The shrubs and trees that threatened to cross at the sides of the road were kept back from the road itself.

It was starting to spit rain by the time the road widened out into what seemed like an abandoned town. There was rubble on the side of the road and several of the generic concrete buildings, sporting signs of peeling paint and faded pictures, had collapsed in on themselves. We walk through this strange abandoned place looking for somewhere with a roof still intact.

I notice Tobias point to something. I look closer and there on the side of one of the concrete walls still standing is a spray of what could only be bullet holes. Now that I've seen them, I notice that other buildings have evidence of them too. Perhaps these buildings didn't collapse over time but were blown up. There is a lot of concrete and metal that seemed to be on the ground but doesn't belong to a particular building. I shiver, wondering what could have happened here.

We eventually find a building that looks safe enough despite being collapsed at the back. We gather inside and try and salvage some timber for a fire just as the sky dims even more and the rain starts to pelt down. The roof thankfully doesn't have any leaks and we stand in the middle of an empty concrete floor. Peter gets a fire started and we all huddle around it resting while the storm rages outside.

Christina and Uriah are sitting together murmuring a conversation and Cara gets up to look at the graffiti-covered walls around us. Tobias goes and joins her and they walk around the walls as I stare into the flames not thinking about anything.

A shout gets me alert and I jump up and see where it came from.

Cara and Tobias are staring at the right wall in horror. Cara has her hand over her mouth in an unexpected display of emotion. Tobias is wide-eyed.

"What? What is it?" I ask as we all run over to them.

Tobias just points at the wall.

There is a spray of bullet holes, chunks of concrete torn away at chest height. But it isn't the bullet holes or the faded dark brown that is smeared behind them. It is the message. Written in what I could only hope was brown paint but knew was blood:

DEATH IS THE ONLY FREEDOM LEFT TO US


	4. Chapter 4

DEATH IS THE ONLY FREEDOM LEFT TO US

The words stare at me, faded with age but still vivid against the grey wall. I glance at the others. Christina is frowning and Uriah draws close and takes her hand. She squeezes it. I look at Caleb and Peter behind me. Caleb sees me looking and drops his eyes, he looks sickened by the message. Peter on the other hand is staring at it in some kind of feverous zeal. He notices me staring and once again his mask of stone comes back up. Cara voices what we are all thinking.

"Execution…" she whispers.

It sends shivers down my spine.

"But what does the message mean?" asks Christina.

Caleb speaks in a rough voice, "It was voluntary. Suicide."

And that's when I can't be in the building anymore. It feels oppressive. I turn around and walk out into the rain. The storm rages around me. Wind lashing and rain smacking me but I stand stock still. I feel like I am at the centre of something, unmovable but still privy to the elements. It rages around me. This world feels broken and I don't know what to do about it. What if it's worse than the war inside the city? Have we all just walked out into our deaths?

I can't grasp a hold of what is me or the storm anymore. I am so caught up in this swirling torrent of possibilities that I don't notice Tobias until he grasps my hand and pulls me towards him. The storm drops away as I press my head into his shoulder. He is here with me in this raging torrent. He is solid.

I realise we are both stones. The storm may weather us, beat us, corrode us but we will not move or bow to it. We would stand in the face of it, unmovable.

"We should keep going," I say, "I can't stay here. Not with that message hanging over my head."

"I agree, plus at least we can all have some kind of shower." He frowns at the storm around us.

We go back inside and our plan to move on is met with little resistance. We are all eager to leave this place even if it means being soaked. We pack our meagre things and continue on through the town towards the west.

* * *

The rain finally stops around mid-afternoon and the sun shines on us through a gap in the sky. The air is clean and fresh and we all stop off the road at a small stream swollen by the rain. We each head off into separate bushes to get changed into dry clothes kept separate from the rain by the wonderful technology of waterproof bags.

I emerge from the bushes and give my clothes a quick rinse in the stream before hanging them on a tree to dry. The others are doing the same with theirs. I peel of my soaking wet socks and ring them out.

"Ew, sock sweat," says Uriah, a half-formed grin on his face. He is doing the same with his socks while Christina sits on a rock washing hers in the stream. Then, without warning, he turns and throws a sock at Christina.

She shrieks as it hits her head and almost falls into the stream. I double over laughing so I don't see Uriah's other sock until it slaps me in the face.

I scream.

I peel it off and turn to face him with murder in my eyes and socks in my hands. His sparkling eyes and full-faced grin has me off-balanced for a second. It has been a while since I have seen that look. But not for long.

I wind up my arm and let fly with my devastating accuracy learnt during knife training. The sock lands right in the middle of his forehead just as another from Christina slaps his back. And then it is all out sock war. I throw my remaining ammunition at Tobias as he emerges into the clearing and laugh as I try to take cover from his barraging reply. Cara, Caleb and Peter all take cover behind some trees rather than get caught up in this disgusting war. It eventually ends with the three of us surrounding Uriah and beating him with wet socks until he concedes.

I haven't laughed that freely in so long and I have a feeling that the others hadn't either. I feel clean again, despite the taint from dirty socks. It is good to forget sometimes.

But reality catches up and we are moving again. Walking closer to the truth.

* * *

We camp in another abandoned concrete husk. There is evidence of houses and a street that used to be here but they are either all blown to smithereens or to crumbled to offer any shelter. All around us are remnants of a forgotten life. A forgotten world.

"What do you think happened out here," I whisper to Tobias that night.

He is quiet for a moment, "A war… but I'm as clueless as you with what it's about. I also don't understand how more people didn't leave the city before now. So many of the Factionless could have just tried to leave and have lived out here. Or we could have extended the city's limits… I don't understand." He sounds as frustrated as I feel.

In the morning we eat the last of our food. A couple of soggy crackers and a can of preserved fruit shared around. I was still hungry and judging by the weary faces around me the others were too. We set off again and made good time on the road. On either side of us were enormous trees. I thought perhaps there was a forest here before whatever happened to the world. The trees touch branches far above our heads enclosing us in a beautiful green tunnel. The undergrowth was thick on either side so it wasn't until we were right to the edge of the forest did we realise that there in front of us was what we sought.

A wall. It was at least 4 metres high and topped with razor wire. There was a cleared area from the forest re-growth just in front, I guessed that was so you couldn't climb a tree and leap over, not that I would want to drop 4 metres to the ground. I turned north and saw that it spanned ahead curving slightly to the right. I could see at least five hundred metres either way before the forest hid it from view.

I looked at the others and we all had varying degrees of relief on our faces. Except for Tobias and Cara. Tobias looked apprehensive, like he didn't trust the wall or what it could possibly hold for us and Cara just looked thoughtful.

"Which way? North or south?" asks Uriah.

Cara points north. "The tower shouldn't be too far from here if I've judged correctly where we are from your directions." I look at her. I have no idea where we are currently. She's been keeping track of our direction this long? I shake my head in amazement.

We all walk along the wall for another hour when, slowly in the distance, just around the curve, is a tower. It's an immense concrete monolith right in the middle of the wall five stories high and complete with a strange metal turret on its open roof. It looks like a gun barrel but massive.

Christina gives a whoop of joy at finding it. Tobias smiles at me and even Cara looks relieved.

I try to smile back at him but suddenly my neck prickles and I have a sense of foreboding.

"Everyone stop!" I shout. Surprising me, they are all silent and in that split second I hear a twig snap from the forest. We all whip around in the direction it comes from and, emerging in front of us, are four men wearing uniformed bullet proof vests and pointing gun barrels into our face.

"Put your hands in the air and don't move, rebel scum!"


	5. Chapter 5

We all freeze. I slide my eyes over to Tobias, his face registers shock before glossing over to a smooth calm. I can see his muscles tensing.

"I said hands in the air!" screams one of the men. We all quickly comply as they move closer to us from out of the forest.

"We're peaceful," says Tobias making a calming gesture with his hands in the air, "We came from the city."

"Shut up, scum," one of the others says, "We don't want to hear your rebel lies."

"We just want information," Tobias tries again, "We're unarmed."

"Don't you dare spout your rebel profanities at me!" screams the one with the gun pointing at Tobias.

I was looking at the gun frowning, it was much bigger than the handguns the other soldiers were holding, a beastly two-handed weapon. I pan my gaze up to the soldier's face. He is in his forties with a buzz cut greying slightly, but that wasn't what held me rooted to my place. His eyes were trained on Tobias but they were glazed, as if he wasn't actually seeing what was happening right in front of him. I look at the others and it's the same for them too.

Then his words catch up to me. They don't match with what Tobias said…

"Simulation…" I realise I have just spoken aloud. The buzz-cut soldier's eyes contract and I can see his finger tightening on the trigger.

"RUN!" I scream diving at Tobias and knocking him over as the big gun sprays a load of bullets behind us where Tobais had just been.

I can dimly see Uriah dive at one of the others and Christina run into the forest. I hear another few gun shots, single this time.

Tobias rolls in the grass and almost springs to his feet again. He catches my arm and practically throws me into the forest. He then smoothly pulls a handgun from his beltline and shoots buzz-cut in the head.

I am running through the forest weaving in and out of trees heading towards the tower. There are multiple other gun shots coming from behind me and I pray that the others are all right.

I jump over a root and come around the side of a particularly tall tree when a hand whips out and grabs my arm. I am immediately pulled up short and almost scream as a hand clamps over my mouth. I look around wildly and am met with a close up view of Peter's face. I struggle in his death grip when he gives me a hard look and brings his fingers to his lips in a shut-the-hell-up gesture.

I stop struggling and he lets me go. Then I hear the movement behind me. There is a crashing and then, suddenly it stops. I try to get my breathing under control. Peter cautiously edges around the trunk. A stick snaps behind me and I dive forward onto the leaf littered ground. Peter swings around and leaps at the soldier managing to kick his arm. The soldier drops his handgun and I scramble forward on hands and knees to grab it. The second I pick it up a wave of nausea hits me and I see Will's simulation induced face before me. I close my eyes for a second willing the thought to go away.

Standing slowly I point the gun at the subdued soldier. Peter has him in an arm lock on the ground, his face pushed into the dirt. I walk over and look at his eyes. They have that same blankness, his face slightly slack.

"What are you doing out here?" I try. The soldier says nothing, but his eyes slide up and look at me but _through_ me too, like I'm not really there.

Peter presses the lock harder and the soldier grunts in pain. "She asked a question," he says quietly.

"I will never answer to you rebel scum, you won't find any secrets here," his voice is rough with strain, "the Programmers will find you and you will all be annihilated. You don't deserve to be alive. You can't fight it."

My hands are shaking on the gun, I keep seeing Will's face super-imposed on the soldier's. Is this soldier also just controlled by another sinister mind? An unwilling pawn? I can't hold it straight so I try to hand it to Peter. He gives me a questioning look with a hint of disgust. Some Dauntless I am, I can't even hold a gun anymore.

Peter takes the gun from my sweaty hands and I turn to go.

"What will we do with him?" asks Peter waving the gun at the soldier.

"Make him follow us to the tower. Maybe we'll find answers there." I sincerely hope we do.

Peter slowly lets the soldier up still pointing the gun at him. The soldier stands there for a second before lunging at me. I'm not fast enough and suddenly the man has his hands around my neck. I try to elbow him in the stomach but the vest takes most of the impact.

The gunshots sound close to my ears and I reel back as I feel a spray across my face. My ears are ringing and in the din I hear my breaths coming in short gasps. The soldier' weight falls from me and he slumps on the ground, the back of his head a bloody mess.

I turn to Peter and see him lowering the gun. I'm shaking. "What the hell did you do?" I yell at him.

His eyes are cold and his face immovable, he looks me in the eye, "save your life." His reply is slightly muffled by the fading wringing.

I take a step backwards in horror and disgust. I point at the soldier.

"He didn't have to die! He didn't even know what he was doing."

"So you would have wanted me to let him wring your stupid neck?" his cold logic is starting to penetrate but all I can see are the blank-eyed dauntless soldiers committing atrocities and not knowing what they were doing. And there again is Will's blank face, staring at me.

The sticky sensation on my face prompts me to lift a hand and wipe it. My hand is red. Oh god, my face is covered in the soldier's blood. I have to get it off, I shrug out of my pack and find my old shirt scraping it rigorously, trying to be clean again. Peter is going over the body, checking the pockets. He pockets some of the items then turns to me with his cold face that says, _are you done yet?_

I don't feel remotely clean in the slightest, I'm sure the soldier's blood is still smeared all over me like a sic children's painting but I get up and follow Peter as he walks in the direction of the tower.

Shots are fired just up ahead of us, around the trees. I hear a scream and then I am running towards the sound. No gun or weapon just pure adrenaline and a stupid sense that I could do something. Peter has already proved my uselessness with guns.

We break into a small clearing and I see Tobias and Caleb. A soldier is lying on the ground to my right and Caleb is kneeling next to another body.

Tobias whips around at the sound of our steps but immediately lowers the gun at the sight of us. Then he sees my face and I watch him battle with concern and horror.

"Are you-"

"Not mine," I mutter, "What happened?"

"It's Cara," a desperate look rolls across his face, "She's been shot."


	6. Chapter 6

I run over to where Cara is lying on the ground. She's still conscious but clutching at her leg. Caleb is rooting around in his pack and he pulls out one of his shirts and a first aid kit.

He shoves the shirt at me before seeing my face. Concern flashes in his eyes before he notices I'm not the one bleeding.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I can't stop the vehemence from entering my voice. I haven't spoken to him this whole time and now he's shoving his dirty laundry at me.

"Stop the bleeding," he gives me a hurt look, "Get it together Beatrice, if we don't stop the bleeding she's going to die."

"Oh," I wad the shirt and then press it against Cara's leg wound. It looks like she's been hit by two bullets. She cries out, her eyes watering and teeth gritted.

Tobias is next to us then, Caleb and him working to tie a tourniquet over her leg and binding the wound in bandages. The shirt is already soaked through with blood and as I remove my hand Cara's blood is mixed with the dead soldier's.

Cara's eyes are glazed and her breathing has intensified.

"She's going into shock," mutters Caleb.

Tobias looks at me seeing that I'm not in a much better state. "Tris, we need to get her to medical help. The tower is the closest place. Go and find Uriah and Christina. Peter, go with her."

Ok, something to do. I stand up and the world tilts around me. Tobias stands up as well and puts his arm on my back to steady me. "Tris." his voice penetrates the dim that seems to surround me, "You need to do this or Cara will die. Caleb and I will carry her to the tower but we need to know that they will help us. If they don't… Cara will probably bleed out."

I close my eyes tightly for a second, feeling the darkness invade. When I open them I am calm again. Tobias hands me his gun. I hold it as if it's a deadly snake, the metal is warm from his hands.

"Get it together Tris," he says roughly, "You're dauntless and you need to get into that tower to save Cara."

I straighten, he's right. I need to put my own selfish reasons for not holding a gun aside for Cara. There is nothing I can do to stop them from attacking me so maybe I can stop them from attacking my friends. I look up into Tobias's eyes a new determination there, I feel this burning in me, Cara _has_ to live, and I am going to help her. Too many people have died already.

I wrap my arms around Tobias for a brief moment, feeling his heartbeat, his warmth before I release him and stride after Peter out of the clearing.

We move as quietly as we can through the undergrowth muffling our breathing and footsteps. The tower comes into view up ahead of us but we stay well back so as not to give our positions away to any guards. I still feel a slight revulsion at being this close to Peter but I try not to let it affect me.

Movement, up ahead. I see a flash of black and grey. Peter and I immediately duck behind a tree before I hear a tentative whisper, "Tris?" It's Christina.

I step out from behind the tree and almost have to leap out of the way as Christina careens into me and gives me a hug. It wasn't the emotion I was expecting from her but it's nice to know she cares.

"You're ok!" she says breathlessly. Uriah walks up behind her not making a sound, he stops short when he sees my face.

"Not mine." I say again before he opens his mouth. Christina backs up a couple of steps and takes us in. I am filthy from all the blood and my roll around the forest floor, Peter on the other hand looks immaculate.

"What the hell happened?" Alarm registering in her eyes.

"Cara's been shot. We need to get her to a doctor or she'll bleed out."

"Oh my god," she notices the gun in my hands, "The tower?"

"It's the only place for miles around. We have to either beg them for help-

"I don't think they'll listen," says Uriah with a grimace.

"Then we have to take the tower."

We all look at each other and nod, Dauntless soldiers through and through.

The tower stands like a concrete fort, squat in the centre of the wall. At least five stories high and one of the ugliest buildings I've seen. The strange turret I saw from the distance is much bigger up close. A polished metal double barrel is all I can see rising into the air in a salute to the west. At least it's not pointing at us. Surrounding the base of the tower is a razor wire fence with a small gate protected by a single guard. The door to the actual tower seemed to have some electronic mechanism next to it. We can't see anyone else visible in the tower.

Single guard first.

Uriah bursts from cover firing two shots, one hits the guard's bullet proof vest, jolting him with the impact while the other finds its way into his neck. I hear the gargling scream but don't look at him. Uriah pushes open the gate while the rest of us run from cover. We make it to the base of the tower where we should be safe from line-of-sight shooting from the windows. The mechanism is some kind of keypad and Uriah looks ready to shoot it with his gun until Peter pulls something from his pocket.

He swipes a strange black card, a souvenir from the dead guard in the forest.

The door clicks open and Uriah kicks it while we all duck back around the doorframe. A barrage of automatic fire flies through where we had just been. There's a break in the fire and Christina ducks around the corner and fires two shots. A muffled gasp from inside just before another stream of fire hits the doorframe and flies out into the open. It stops again and both Peter and Christina slide around firing shots. There's a cry of pain and then silence.

We stalk through the door into a plain corridor, I ignore the bodies and pool of blood at the end and start climbing the stairs. My eyes slide over everything, taking it in coldly and without emotion. I need to do this for Cara or she will die.

We get to the first landing and Peter and Christina peel off to check the rooms. Uriah and I continue up to the second floor.

I open the first door and peer in cautiously. Just a set of bunk beds with a few personal items and clothing littered around the room. The second is the same, Uriah motions that all of his rooms were empty too. We head back to the stairs and continue up. Christina and Peter are checking the third floor so we go up to the fourth. The first door I kick open shows an empty room with a back wall made entirely of an electronic map… of the City. I can't stop to wonder why a map of the City was in a strange guard-tower though. I don't think, I just move.

The next room is just a kitchen and I turn to go when I hear shouts out in the hall. Uriah comes out of the room opposite, a glance through the door tells me it's just a dining room, and we run back down the hallway to the stairs.

I hear a single shot fired on the floor below.

* * *

**AN: I apologise for all these cliff-hangers… They kind of just happen, and it feels like the right place to end the chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

Uriah runs back out to the stairs and leaps over the railing onto the floor below. I follow a little more safely but just as quickly.

We are greeted by the sight of Peter leaning over a body. Christina is leaning against the wall, her eyes closed and holding her gun limply.

"What happened?" Uriah asks, putting a hand on Christina's soldier.

"I shot him… he was pointing a gun at me, his eyes dead. He was going to shoot me, so I shot first." Her voice wavers and cracks. "All I can think of is the horrid things they made us do under the simulation. I have to live with that. And now I'm killing others who don't know any better."

I know how she feels. I can't see anything except their blank eyes staring at me and then Will's face floating up in a haze.

Uriah says some quiet words to her while Peter gets up and motions us up the stairs.

"One more floor."

We all climb the stairs quietly until we get to the last floor. This floor is different, just a single metal door with one of the electronic locks. Peter swipes the black card but a red light flashes and the door remains shut. He looks unimpressed and quickly takes aim at the mechanism and shoots it twice. My ears ring with the gunshots in the confined space. Uriah tries to kick the door but it still won't budge. Peter joins in and between them they manage to kick it open with a crash.

The gunfire sprays through the door and we all quickly back out onto the landing again. I am closest to the frame so when the spray stops for a moment I duck around the frame and take aim into the room.

There are two people. One is a woman dressed in the soldier's uniform, her face slack and eyes dead as she holds another of those two-handed guns. The other is dressed in a black jacket and his eyes hold intelligence and awareness to the situation as he points a handgun at my face.

I duck back around the doorframe as his shots pass where my head had been. The room was full of computers, strange images flashing on them and in the centre, where the two people were standing, was a massive table pulsing with an eerie blue light.

"There's a conscious one in there," I say to the others, "maybe he'll listen to us?"

Uriah nods at me and I raise my voice over the gunfire.

"We don't want to hurt you! We just want information, we're from the city."

The gunfire pauses for a second.

"Am I really meant to believe that?" his voice is smooth. "You rebels get bolder and bolder in your lies."

"We're not rebels," Uriah tries to duck around the frame of the door and is met with fire from the soldier's gun. He ducks back again.

"Of course you are. If you're not under the simulation then you are a rebel whether you are from that cursed city or not. Or you're a Divergent which is means I will kill you all right here and now." His voice is flat, devoid of emotion. It is a voice that I know in that instant will not reason with anyone. A voice so firmly rooted in belief of its own delusion that nothing will tell it otherwise. If he thinks we're rebels then he will think it to the grave.

Uriah knows it too, "Then we'll just have to kill you first."

We both duck around the frame, he hits the soldier in the arm and head while mine hit the man's chest. We pile inside the room, I race over to the man and see he's still breathing. My bullet punctured a lung though, so it won't be for long. I feel sick.

He looks at me with malice in his eyes. "The simulation is the only way of life. To fight it is to fight perfection." He chokes the words out, wheezing on his own blood.

I don't understand what he's talking about but before I have a chance to ask him his eyes glaze over and he slumps into the pool of his own blood. I have to turn away.

There's another person to add to my list of the dead. Another person I killed, I ended his life, but I am comforted I gave him the choice to talk. He was too stupid to take it.

I walk over to the glowing blue table as I get closer the light takes on the shapes of towers and spires, crumbling roads and houses. Then I spot the Hub… it's a map of the city, _our_ city. What the hell is it doing here?

Then I remember Cara and realise Tobias and Caleb are probably waiting for some kind of signal that it's safe to come into the tower. I run back down the stairwell, jumping the bodies in the front entrance hall, trying not to acknowledge the carnage that we caused.

I exit the front door and see movement in the forest. I motion the ok gesture and Tobias and Caleb emerge carrying Cara between them. She's unconscious.

"There's a set of rooms with beds on the second floor." Tobias nods as he passes, Caleb is puffing as they climb the stairs. Cara's bandages are already soaked through and seeping blood.

After they lay her on one of the beds, Caleb sinks down beside her and rests his head on his knees. Tobias walks over to me and pulls me into a hug. I breathe him in and just let myself melt to his frame.

"I killed him," I whisper. "He wouldn't talk to us so I shot him, he wouldn't listen." I keep trying to rationalise all this killing in my head.

"Tris, it's ok. It seems this world is the same as the one in the city. If there is a choice between your life and theirs then always, _always_ choose yours. I can't lose you." His voice breaks on the last sentence. I look up to his eyes and see a deep trust, something that his eyes were almost devoid of when I met him and I know that I can't lose him either.

"But what are we killing _for?_" it's a question I desperately need an answer to.

"Maybe we'll find out soon."

I take him up to the room with the computers and strange light-map. His eyes take it all in and he goes over to one of the desks and sits down. He starts tapping commands into the computer and text splays across the screen in droves.

The others are all standing looking at the map. The bodies on the floor have been covered in a sheet, it does nothing to comfort me.

Tobias grunts and I hear his fingers tapping furiously, then all of the screens in the room light up with different pictures. All different locations and people flash on the screens. I spot Evelyn in a small room, sitting at a desk, her eyes staring off into the distance. There's the Merciless Mart, people filing in and out, Erudite headquarters and various other locations on the screens. I look at Tobias. He is sitting back in his chair with his eyes taking in all the screens, then they come to rest on his mother and I see a deep longing flash in them before being replaced with hardness. He looks at me and I know his guess is as good as mine as to why and how these people can access the cameras in the city. Or why they're watching us…

I see Caleb enter the room and take in all the cameras. His eyebrows shoot up before narrowing again, in fear, anger? Then he spots a device on a table by the back wall. It is large and has blinking lights and black knobs. Caleb frowns at it before recognition lights in his eyes.

"A radio." He goes over to it, oblivious to our blank faces. "What you climbed was a radio tower. It only makes sense that there should be a radio, we'll just have to see whether there's anyone trying to contact us."

He starts turning the knobs and static rushes out of the speakers before tuning into a voice.

"Hello? We're try- reach you, if you're al- please reply" the static rushes in the gaps and Caleb turns the knobs again trying to catch the voice. It sounds female.

"Come in, we heard a disturbance at Tower Nine. If you are rebels and in control of the tower please contact immediately. We can extract you."

We've found them.


	8. Chapter 8

"Come in, come in, if there is anyone there, we need to know now. State your allegiance and current status."

Caleb scrambles to pick up a microphone. He presses a button as we all rush to huddle around the device.

"Hello?" he says rather tentatively into the device.

"I'm reading you, state your allegiance and status."

"Errr…"

Tobias snatches the device from Caleb and growls into the microphone, "We are citizens from the city behind the fence. We don't know about 'allegiance' or what side we're meant to be allied on but we have one injured in need of urgent medical attention."

The voice was silent for a moment.

"We can send a Dropship that can be there within half an hour but you need to shut down the external weapons and signals for it to approach."

"How do we shut them down?"

"There is a manual shut-down for the aircraft cannon on the roof. The other signals should be able to be shut down with a power cut. Find the fuse box and generator and shut it down from there. When we read no signals coming from that place, we'll send the ship."

"Ok, we'll have it down as soon as possible."

There is another pause at the other end. "What is your name?"

"I am Four," Tobias replies.

The answer comes immediately, "Is the Prior girl with you?"

Everyone turns to stare at me but I just frown at the device in Tobias's hands. I take it from him.

"This is Tris," my voice shakes, "Why do you want me?"

There is a wry quality to the voice as it answers, "Well, you're the one we've been waiting for… Shut down the cannon and we can get to you soon. Then we can talk."

The static rushes back and everyone's eyes are still on me. I shrug and turn to walk up to the roof. Tobias follows me after he tells the others to look for the generator.

There's a narrow staircase leading to the roof and the door that opens onto it is locked by one of the key-cards. I didn't bring one up but luckily Tobias did and he wordlessly swipes the card and we walk out into the sunshine.

The 'airship cannon' is immense. A double barrel of sharp black metal gleaming in the light. Its base is a huge dome that looks like it could twist around, the barrel itself could move as well. I guessed it was automated. That brought me to another question. What the hell were 'Dropships' and why do they need giant cannons to shoot them? I mean, there can't actually be devices that fly in the air, right? That's just preposterous. I say as much to Tobias and he shakes his head.

"I don't think much can surprise me anymore… They've been watching the city all this time. All the people here were under a far more complex simulation than we had in the city. Until I find out why I guess I can believe anything is possible." I can see his mind is back in the city where his mother and father are.

I walk around the outside of the tower while Tobias fiddles with a control panel. Looking out to the other side of the fence it is much the same. Regrown forest overtaking old fields. In the distance I can see a number of fallen buildings, concrete and steel lying in rubble, another town, I suppose. Directly down from the tower is another enclosed space with black solar panels and a greenhouse. It has another chain-link razor-wire fence surrounding it. To keep people out or in, I don't know. Just outside the chain fence a big swath of ground has been kept clear of the impending forest, it looks a bit neglected, with the tall grass swaying slightly in the breeze.

I walk back around to Tobias and put my arms around him, wanting to feel just him and not this vast emptiness that we've walked into. He turns towards me and smiles tiredly taking my face in his hands.

"You're a mess."

"Thanks," I reply wryly, "I feel like a mess. I keep wondering whether we've done the right thing. Have we just walked into another war?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's the same war, just bigger."

I really don't like the sound of that.

Tobias turns back to the control panel and sighs before pulling out his gun and loading the fizzling screen with enough bullets that it just gives up altogether in a puff of smoke. The canon shudders slightly before dropping down its axis to point at the base of the roof.

We walk back inside and into the computer room with the bodies that I don't notice. All the computers are black now, the lights dead. The radio has no power too so we all troop back down to Cara's level. I walk into one of the bathrooms and find Christina there, scrubbing her hands. I realise that I still have blood on my face.

I walk over to a tap and start scrubbing furiously, the water turning dark red and brown. My stomach is churning again and I have to stop and breathe for a moment.

"It doesn't get any easier, does it?" Christina says in a quiet voice.

"What?"

"Killing people…"

I feel my stomach drop. "No. And it shouldn't. We shouldn't have to kill people." I remember what Tobias said to me then. "But sometimes when it's a choice between your life and theirs you have to take it. You make that choice. And you should regret it every day of your life, because every day you live is a day you took away from someone else."

I don't notice the tears until they start dropping into the basin.

"Is that how you feel about Will?" she asks it quietly.

I turn to her and see tears in her eyes too.

"Yes," I choke out, "every day."

"Hey, it's ok Tris, I said I forgive you remember?" She says it with sad eyes and a turned down mouth.

I nod, "It doesn't make it any easier to live with though… and it shouldn't. I killed him and when I see a simulation all I can think of is Will's face. And I killed him. He didn't get a choice, it was made for him and that just makes it worse." I can't believe I'm telling her this but it's as if a dam inside my head has just exploded under the emotional pressure and everything is flooding out.

"Oh, Tris…" Christina walks towards me and then I'm in her arms and we're both sobbing and falling to the floor. It hurts in my chest but I'm glad I told her.

"You know what I did under the simulation though… I killed people too." Christina sobs this into my shoulder. "And I have to live with it. I don't even remember their faces. At least you got to choose who you killed. I had no choice, I wasn't in control and that terrifies me."

"Hey, it's ok. You didn't know what you were doing… you didn't know." And now I'm the one comforting her.

We eventually calm down enough to break apart. "So… you and Uriah huh?" I try to make light of the moment while we both stare at each other with tear tracks and snotty noses.

Christina snort-laughs and immediately has to wash her face. "I wouldn't exactly say 'me and Uriah' yet…"

"But there's a future?" I say it with raised eyebrows and a knowing look.

Christina punches my arm. "I don't know." She leans against the sink, "We've both lost people and in the last couple of days it has helped just to talk. To try and let go of our grief. It doesn't help though that that boy barely has a serious bone in his body."

I laugh. "But that's the appeal, right? Maybe we all just need someone who can make us laugh."

"Yeah, I don't know. He might not be serious enough… I guess we'll see." She gives me a small smile before drying off her face, leaving me in the bathroom alone.


	9. Chapter 9

We gather out on the other side of the wall in the fenced off area. Tobias and Caleb carried Cara down on a makeshift stretcher. I'm worried about her. Her face is white and has a sheen of cold sweat on it, her breathe coming in short gasps. She has woken up again and looks like she's struggling not to go back under. She grits her teeth and stares into the sky with the rest of us.

I look towards the west where the setting sun is making it hard to see anything. I squint my eyes up at the pale blue sky willing the Dropship to come faster.

We hear it before we see it. A deep drone just on the edge of silence, but we all look around at each other and know it's there. It gets closer but for all of our staring none of us can spot where the sound is coming from. Then it changes pitch and becomes a loud roar and there, shimmering just above the cleared field is _something_. A sharp shape glides past my eyes, a slight flickering in the air, but whatever it is, it's almost invisible. The grass is being flattened by a huge downdraft, the dust around us whipping up so it becomes impossible to see anything. Then the roar and the wind disappear and in that settling moment the Dropship shimmers into existence.

Right before our eyes a huge glossy black arrow shaped _thing_ appears in the field. My jaw is open and I can't find the will to close it. This is not possible.

It is shaped like a huge triangle, an arrow glistening with sleek aerodynamic curves. The razor edges taper out to sharp points. Two giant circles are cut out of the wings and I think that's where all the wind was coming from. How? I have no idea. The middle of the ship rises from the tip, to accommodate for space I suppose. The craft sits on a set of landing gear that raises it a couple of metres from the ground.

I take the time to glance at the others, their faces and body language ranging from outright disbelief to stunned awe. Cara has tears in her eyes, I would have thought from the pain, but the look of pure wonder gives it away. She sees me looking and says, "I have got to get me one of these."

Then the underneath of the ship peels backwards and a short staircase descends. There are people climbing out of it. People! One carries a huge duffle bag and they start off towards us.

I can't believe the next few moments, this meeting and whether we can trust these people, will determine our future. Will they take us away to another war? Maybe it's peaceful where they live and we will all get to live happily ever after. I don't think the second scenario is very likely at all. As they approach I start to make out their faces.

The first one, I'm guessing the leader of this particular expedition is an older woman. She is average height and as she gets closer I see that her face and bare arms are covered in freckles. She has dark brown hair, almost black, and is smiling. A big grin lights up her face and her eyes sparkle at the sight of us. As she takes in our varying states of dirtiness and disrepair the grin slip a bit.

The tall one carrying the duffle bag is perhaps Tobias's age with handsome dark eyes that slant downwards. When he catches sight of Cara's white face and laboured breathing he runs the last twenty or so metres and immediately kneels down beside her opening the duffle bag and peeling back the sheets to look at her wound. His subsequent frown and tightening of the mouth tells me the news isn't good.

The last is the one with the gun. One of those two-handed monstrosities. The young man with blonde hair holding it looks at us with wary eyes but he keeps the gun trained at the ground.

When the woman and the gun-holder reach us we all stare back cautiously.

"Hello city dwellers," her voice is instantly recognisable as the one on the radio. "Welcome to the world outside. I'm Zoe, this is Reggie," she points at the gun-holder, "and the one attending to your friend is Mathew. We are part of the Resistance and we sincerely hope you decide to be a part of it too."

Before anyone can ask _what_ resistance, Mathew stands up and speaks to Zoe as if we are all invisible. "She's not going to last much longer. I need to get back to base _now_, we have to operate or she's going to die of blood loss."

I feel my heart clench. I can't take another death. "We'll take your answers about what the hell you're resisting against later. If you can save her, please, we'll go with you." I can hear the desperation trickling into my voice.

Zoe looks at all of us and Tobias nods to what I've said. I can see the wariness in his eyes, the distrustful mask he wears is plain on his face but he seems determined on letting it go for a moment if they can help Cara.

Zoe motions to Reggie and he and Mathew pick up Cara's stretcher and make their way back to the Dropship. We all start to follow Zoe as well. She looks at me, recognition sparking in her eyes.

"You're Tris, right?" she asks, her voice is easy, "I recognised you from the surveillance footage but you've also got a bit of Natalie in you. I'm sorry for your loss, she was a good soldier but a better friend." She sighs, oblivious to my reaction as what feels like a bolt of lightning hits me and shivers electrical currents straight through my body.

What? This isn't possible…

I stop dead and turn to face her, I see Caleb doing the same, a look of horror and guilt crosses his face. Good, he should feel that, feel her loss all the more by betraying me, betraying our blood. Zoe faces me but her eyes slide to Caleb as well.

"You knew her?" I sound strangled, trying to grasp at the threads of my life as they fall apart before me. How could she know my mother?

"I knew her, she and I became friends in the couple of months before they sent her on that suicide mission inside the city. It's a long story though and better told with context that you'll sorely need to understand this screwed up world we live in."

She turns back and starts off towards the ship again. Tobias senses my distress and curls his hand around mine. I cling onto his fingers in an attempt to hold myself steady in this raging flood of questions. He squeezes my hand and I concentrate on that and will myself to continue into the unknown.

* * *

**AN: Hi readers. Thanks for sticking with it so far, I promise in the next few chapters I'll tell you what I cooked up for the 'world outside'. I hope you like it.**

**Just a quick note on characters. As you can see, I've re-purposed a couple of Roth's lesser known characters. I was going to try and avoid creating new characters altogether but the only problem is that there are only eight named minor characters outside the fence in Allegiant… Yeah, eight. I counted (though if you find more, please let me know!).**

**So, I'm going to work with what I've got first and hope that it will work out ok, but I may have to invent a couple of people to fill in the gaps.**

**And… I don't like to do this but the characters that were already dead aren't coming back to life. 1. Because George finding out his sister died literally hours before he got to tell her he was alive was really cruel. And unnecessary. 2. For my explanation of the people outside the fence to work I can't have any of the city people escape. Sorry Amar and George, you're staying dead… : ( **


	10. Chapter 10

"How does the ship become invisible?" asks Uriah as we approach the Dropship.

"The ship is covered in refractive panels that reflect light bouncing it away from the ship. It's effectively an optical illusion as it's not completely invisible, you would have seen a shimmering as it approached. It is almost invisible to the naked eye but it is vulnerable to infrared and heat signature. That's why we had to get you to turn off the automated cannon. It just blasts anything big enough out of the sky." Zoe explains all of this as if we know what she means by 'infrared' and 'refractive panels'.

I can see Caleb's eyes glistening with this new knowledge and even Peter looks entranced.

As we duck under the wing I look up at the underside, tiny veins of wires connect all of the 'refractive' panels in a seamless pattern. The underbelly of the ship is a sort of vertical trapdoor, two doors that open out to reveal the belly of the ship. Inside, above my head is two rows of bucket chairs facing each other, each with complicated looking harnesses attached to them. Tobias looks up at them and the ship around us with a deep unease in his eyes. Uriah and Christina look positively thrilled with the idea of flying suspended in the air with no floor.

"Imagine if the Dauntless had one of these," says Christina a wild glint in her eye, "We could fly around the city with no floor."

Uriah snorts, "We'd probably fly around the city sitting on the outside of this thing. The inside looks far too safe." He has a mischievous grin on his face.

Tobias looks slightly paler as we climb the stairs into a small space and I squeeze his hand. I am beginning to feel a little nervous myself but the idea of flying is too exciting for me to be scared of it.

I can see into a little room behind us where Cara is strapped into a bed with Mathew standing next to her. He has re-dressed her wound and given her something to take away the pain because she is looking around at us and the rest of the ship with ill-disguised wonder.

Zoe presses a button and the stairs retract as the double door floor closes to meet in the middle. I realise that the inside of the floor has the same black panels on it as the outside. Zoe shows each of us to one of the bucket chairs and helps us into a harness. I sit wedged between Christina and Tobias facing Peter and Zoe on the other side. Tobias is looking worse and worse as each second passes and I can't help but feel sorry for him. Zoe presses a button on the wall and says into a speaker, "Alright Karen, we're all ready to go. Take us up."

A crackle resonates around the space and turns into a voice. "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, my name is Karen and I am your pilot today. First timers on a Dropship please be reminded to keep all hands and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Please refrain from screaming and vomiting because you'll just embarrass yourself and I don't want to clean up your mess. Once we reach cruising altitude I'll activate the floor panels and give you a view outside." At this announcement Tobias closes his eyes and doesn't open them again. "I hope you all have a pleasant first flight with Rebel Air."

Zoe rolls her eyes at this and says apologetically, "She's always had a flare for showmanship."

The last of her words are drowned out by the incredible roar and shuddering of the entire ship as it comes to life around us. I can feel it juddering me in my seat and Tobias leans back in his chair and squeezes my hand so hard I think it might break. Zoe grins at me, a youthful expression on her older face and I can't help but get caught in her euphoria as I feel the entire ship move and change direction. I look at Christina and she has the same excitement in her eyes as I do.

"This is incredible," she says, "I never expected the world to have something like this in it."

"Me neither," I say, I never expected there to be much of a world outside the city, let alone a world my mother lived in. I am almost scared of the explanation to come.

My ears pop suddenly and the roar dies down to a dim hum. The shuddering of the ship stops and it feels as though we're back on the ground.

Then the floor shimmers and the blackness winks out of existence. It is as though the floor no longer exists and in its place is the most incredible patchwork. I feel as though the entire world is beneath my dangling feet. I knew it was bigger than I thought, from the view of the radio tower, but I had no idea it was this big. Most of it is covered in a patchwork forest, regrowth, but through it I catch glimpses of old roads and houses, tiny lines and squares so far below me. I can see the shadows a line of mountains casts in the afternoon sun, a ruined city, its great towers lying toppled and broken, and the forest, reclaiming all the land in its path.

"Open your eyes," I whisper to Tobias. This is too incredible to miss.

He cracks them open and catches a glimpse of the floor before closing them again, "No thanks."

"What happened to Dauntless Four our fearless leader?" asks Uriah from the other side of Christina, "face your fear you pansycake!"

I laugh as Tobias opens his eyes to look at Uriah with a sour expression. I guess he surrenders to it as he sees the floor and the incredible _vastness_ of what lies below us.

"What on earth is a pansycake?" Christina asks.

Uriah shrugs, "I made it up, but you have to admit it does have an element of insultiness to it."

She raises her eyebrow at this new word aswell.

"I made that one up too."

Caleb turns to Zoe, "Why is it called a Dropship?" he asks.

Zoe raises her eyebrows, "back at the start of the war, someone invented Exos, a kind of exoskeleton suit made of metal, it allowed humans to run faster and take bigger impacts from heights. So since they could fall from a greater height a special kind of infiltration ship was invented. It can hover for an extended period of time and travel faster than the larger aeroplanes, which makes it ideal for infiltration. The real name for one of these babies is a Stealth Striker with a long serial number but since the floor opens up everyone calls them Dropships. Because they drop you into enemy territory."

She doesn't explain which war she's referring to or what an 'aeroplane' is but at the mention of the floor opening in mid-flight Tobias shuts his eyes again with a determined "nope."

Time passes slowly, noticed only by the spreading numbness of my butt on the hard seat and the beautiful patchwork speeding by below me, until the floor shimmers back and the tilt of the ship changes again. My ears pop with the dropping altitude and the roar of the engines comes back.

Karen's voice crackles around the room again, "Thank-you all for flying with Rebel Air today, I hope you have enjoyed your non-simulated experience and would choose us again as your primary rebel airline of choice."

There's a jolt as the ship touches the ground and the roar dies off again. We all unlock our harnesses and file into the space as the floor folds back on its hinges and the stairs descend. I walk down them and out into a giant warehouse-cavern. There is no other way to describe it. I could see some of the rough stone towards the back where we start walking but the rest has clearly been built around it.

Behind me, an absolutely massive set of double doors are rolling closed and I catch a glimpse of mountains and a valley before they shut, clanging together. The hanger is filled with other vehicles, one a strange cylinder with wings. There are a number of trucks like those the Amity use and some that look completely different, and a lot meaner. The Dropship we file out from is the only one in the hanger. A few of the people around the area turn to stare at us as we walk behind Zoe. They look with a wariness but also a kind of strange recognition. Have they been watching us too?

Mathew and Reggie run past us with Cara's stretcher, she is still alert, which is a good sign, but I catch a glimpse of her face and she looks terrible. Not a good sign. I hope that these rebels have some serious medical skills because I _need_ Cara to survive. I can't handle her death so soon after Tori's. That sends a pang right through me and I berate myself for my selfishness. Cara needs to survive because she's Cara and not just because I won't be able to handle my own inner feelings. I sicken myself sometimes.

Zoe turns to face us walking backwards for a couple of paces, "I'll take you all to the Control Room where you'll meet the person in command at this base, and then we'll explain everything."

* * *

**AN: Ok, so I may be taking a few liberties with technology, but they're two hundred years in the future! I'm sure there would be awesome stuff like Dropships and Ironman suits around by then... :P**


	11. Chapter 11

We follow Zoe down winding concrete passages. It was like they were carved into the mountain haphazardly and then just concreted over and given a paint job. Whoever did this didn't exactly try to make it easy for any other inhabitants. Or navigable.

After going through of the long hallways, Zoe pointing at a door in each and telling us who worked there or what that room was, all of which I promptly forgot, we came to a large black door. It was at the end of a long, white concrete hallway, identical to every single other hallway in this cavern. By this time my feet were hurting and the adrenaline rush of flying through the sky in a giant floating arrowhead had worn off. I was crashing. Hard.

It hits me then, what we've been through in the last couple of days. Leaving the city, walking miles and storming a watch tower… It all seems so huge, my entire world has been expanded. Even just seeing a portion of it from the Dropship I can't seem to grasp the absolute magnitude of it. It is just so much bigger than _me_.

And I was about to find out just how big it _really_ was.

Zoe led us through the black door and into the Control Room. A large room, at least big enough to fit three-hundred people, and it was filled with desks, and screens and people looking at them or talking into microphones. It was busy and felt like it had a direct sense of purpose. The entire back wall was covered in screens, each holding a different picture. I strain my eyes to see them. And what I see is horrific. It is a city. A run-down city like ours, but unlike ours, it is on fire. An entire skyscraper is on fire. I look away to the other screens and some have images of familiar buildings. I spot the Hub and Merciless mart entrance. But the screens also hold images which are clearly from another city. _Another_ city.

I just try and focus on one fact: They have been watching us. What for, I really hope they explain to us soon.

We're silent as we cross the room and through a door on the right. I can see the exhaustion in all our stances. The others are noticing the screens too, Caleb and Christina frown, Tobias looks troubled. Peter looks serious but wary, he always seems wary when there is a new power coming into play. As if he measures himself up against it to see which course of action would be the best for his own gain.

We file into a small room with a large metal table inside and a huge black screen on the wall. A thin man sits on the opposite side of the table behind a laptop. He looks up, his eyes regarding us from behind a furrowed brow, his features dusky and narrow. But it wasn't him that commanded our attention.

A tall, dark woman leans against the wall watching us as Zoe points to chairs and we take our cue to sit down.

She has beautiful, smooth brown skin covered by a tightfitting jacket and dark pants, clothes for a purpose. She wears a belt with a gun in a holster. She's young, about twenty, and her face is the kind of face that would look radiant if she was smiling. She wasn't smiling. Her eyes regard us with a hardness and a hint of contempt. I stare right back at her and notice her irises are so dark they are almost black. In that moment as we stare at each other, her eyes are flint, if someone were to strike her the wrong way sparks would fly and something would go up in flames.

I don't know what it was that gave her that hardness, I can see it is a kind of fury just held in check, but I have a feeling it was something far more horrific than what I have seen. And I don't even know whether that is possible.

What would someone have to have been through to have eyes like that?

Zoe, unaware of the tension that the woman brought the room, ploughed on ahead with introductions.

"This is Rafi, he's our computer expert and encoder. He built the entire system in the Control Room from scratch. If it weren't for him there wouldn't be much of a Resistance above the Scar."

Zoe beams at Rafi and he gives us all a nod and a half-smile, just a brief turning of the lips.

"And this is Nita," indicating the woman against the wall, "She's in charge of all the operations above the Scar."

Nita steps forward off the wall and stares at us with that same expression. She doesn't look impressed to see us.

"Well…" her voice was as hard as her eyes, confident and knowing and indifferent. I instantly felt a kind of animosity towards her. She can't treat us like this, we know practically nothing of the world and she is going to regard us with contempt already? Well, two can play at that game. I sit back in my chair and look at her with the pettiest expression I can manage.

"The prodigal Four comes to us, how very fortunate." She stares straight at him and he stares back undaunted but with that same wariness and a judgement, as if he was sizing her up and he liked what he saw. "Tris the invincible as well, what a wonderful day for the rebels," the contempt and sarcasm in her voice is overwhelming. What is her _problem_?

"Christina and Uriah, we are always in need of soldiers. I hope you join us in our ongoing endeavours of peace for all." I couldn't detect much sarcasm for them, which I felt was rather unfair.

"You," she points at Caleb and regards him with an intensity that he _wilts_ under, "I saw what you did in that city and if I catch a hint of betrayal or action counter to what we are trying to achieve here I will throw you back inside that city where they will no doubt tear you apart."

"I–

"And if you speak to me I will cut out your tongue." She wasn't joking. Caleb shrinks back in his chair as far as he will go as we all look at him.

Jesus, this woman has _issues_. I mean, I kind of wholeheartedly agree with her, but Caleb is my problem. Because even though I still haven't asked Caleb why he did it nor spoken more than a few words to him since we left the city, he is still my brother and my responsibility. _I_ would deal with him.

But Nita wasn't done yet, she turns on Peter.

"And you… Peter," she almost spits his name as though it is acid on her tongue, "if I catch you holding a weapon inside this base, I will skin you with your own butter knife. And then I will take out both your eyes before throwing you to the Programmers because it is no less than what you deserve, you two-faced bastard." All of this Nita says in a dangerously low voice that I don't doubt for a second is nothing but truth. She would do it.

"Cross me and I will find you. And I will kill you. I can't afford insubordination here." She stares at each of us in turn again, lingering on me last.

"How do you know all of this? Why are you watching us?" asks Tobias.

Nita swings her stare back onto him and I feel my hackles rising. "Good question, but not the one you need to ask."

"What's the one I need to ask then?" Tobias challenges.

"Who were the ones controlling you?"

That sends chills through all of us. Controlling? How could there be someone controlling the City?

"Well," Zoe's happy tones cut through the tension like butter, "now that introductions are over, why don't we tell them what we're actually fighting for."

Nita releases us all from her unblinking stare and leans against the wall again. "I'll let you take it Zoe. I'll watch."

Zoe smiles and asks Rafi to bring up the map.

**AN: I liked Nita in the book and felt that she could have been so much more. So this is me attempting to bring out the real Nita. Cold, hard, intelligent, and a bit of a bitch. Don't worry though, I promise to make her better. And I won't make her plans as stupid as the ones in the book.**


	12. Chapter 12

"This is a map of the world." Zoe begins by showing us a strange map filled with all these colourful islands and pieces all fit together like a puzzle and surrounded by blue. "This is the United State of America." She taps a large piece of the puzzle on the right hand side. It zooms in so this one puzzle piece fills the screen. "This is Chicago. Your City." And there, up the top of the map is a tiny dot with Chicago written on it.

Chicago. I roll the name around my mouth, testing it. It is strange and it seems wrong to know the name of the City after so long.

Then it hits me. How small that dot is compared to the rest of the world. It's not possible. So much land and space. Other puzzle pieces that were bigger than this one we were on. And the ocean? The giant expanse labelled Pacific and Indian and Arctic. That couldn't possibly be water. That would mean there would be more water than land! It's too massive. Too big to grasp.

Zoe continues on, oblivious to my internal breakdown. And she tells us what happened.

Back at the start of the twenty-first century, a new idea was born in the shape of serums. They were developed by secret agencies around the worlds and used in an underground war on terrorism. Truth serum and memory serum were the first to actually work on other people and once the idea was in the open a serum was being developed for the purpose of control. It wasn't a hallucinogenic experience but a fully-realised one. The subject was induced into a controlled simulation that they were unaware of, and could therefore be programmed to believe or do anything. At first it was used as an escape from reality, people could program their own ideal world and then insert themselves into it. It was similar to the serum used in the Aptitude test, the subject could still make their own decisions based in the world they were in. But then it all changed.

Another idea came forward, but it wasn't new. The idea of control. They thought society was broken. People kill, steal, rape, starve and die, so what if you took this away from them. And so they developed the serum further, in secret, and then released it into the population. It induces people into a different reality. Their body can be directed to be doing one thing and they could be imagining themselves doing another. We experienced this already, during the Dauntless attack on Abnegation.

This idea makes me sick. Suddenly I don't want to know what these people did to each other. I don't want to know what kind of world they created. But it got worse.

The plan these people thought up was for a perfect society. Where a small population controlled the larger. People would be put under the simulation, oblivious to their outside situation and made to work for the benefit of this new society. They were slaves. Slaves in their own body and mind. The simulation could tell you who you are, what to think, what to do. You won't get robbed or murdered or sick. It was a solution to all the problems that society brought with it. The only thing you had to give up was choice.

I have flashbacks to the choosing ceremony. We chose which faction we were to spend our lives in and if we didn't conform they threw us out. We weren't fit to live in their 'perfect society'. But at least we still had a choice.

There were people deeply opposed to this idea, a resistance, saying the society would never be perfect without choice. People must be able to decide their own fate, make their own choices in life. But then the serum was released on the unknowing general population and war broke out. People fought for their freedom, fought for a choice, but slowly bit by bit the Central Government won. People fell under the simulation or killed themselves before it happened to them. America, land of the free, reduced to slaves.

I think of the message. _Death is the only freedom left to us_. That's what it meant. My breathing is quick and I suck it through my teeth. This is worse than I imagined.

There are images flashing on the screen. Zoe tells us these were ones hacked from the Programmers systems. They are horrific. Entire cities burned and in the streets people with guns and in uniforms marched through streets. There is a close-up of one soldiers face. It is blank, along with every other person's. They are all under the simulation.

Zoe Ploughs on regardless of our horror. The map changes to a green and brown one. I suppose it's an aerial image. A massive black strip appears diagonally across the land. From the bottom left corner it stretches to the top right, cutting the land into two. It is like a deep claw, wide at the base and thin at the top.

During the last few years of the Freedom War, the Resistance unleashed a weapon in a last ditch effort to try and destroy the government. However, they lost control of it. A Nuclear Fire that burned nearly three-quarters of the United States. It took nearly fifty years for the remains of the blackened earth to stop smoking. They call it The Scar and in what little land remained on the East Coast was converted with most of the population already under the simulation. And now that land was a precious thing, those who resisted were killed and those who couldn't be put under the simulation were labelled Divergent and sentenced to live out their lives in prison being experimented on.

The rest of the rebels went into hiding to try and build up their strength to one day stop the simulation. There weren't many of them left and it took many years to build up any kind of resistance to try and make a difference. A land with a population of over three hundred million people was reduced to just twenty million in a few short years. The Central Government set up the programming capital in the smoking remains of Washington D.C. using their army of slaves to rebuild the city into a shining metropolis for the rich and powerful. There are six programmer cities along the East Coast with the surrounding land being farmed or worked by the Sims. People are either born into slavery or born into freedom. The cities use Sims as servants and workers and the Sims are none-the-wiser.

This explanation grates on me. It is even worse than I imagined. My first thought is _how_ could people do this to each other? But then I think of our city and Jeanine and the Factions. Nita said there were people controlling us, and I believe her.

Zoe continues with the explanation and this part hits me hard.

Until around twenty-five years ago the Resistance didn't even know anything existed above the Scar. They thought the entire top half the States was burned through and most of Canada as well. They never had access to the information and the Government kept it hidden and encrypted. She tells us it is a hard life, running from people who have better technology from you, stealing food and watching the oblivious life the Sims lead.

But then they had a breakthrough, Natalie escaped from one of the Farms and came to them with information.

Both Nita and Zoe stare at me. I feel like my solar plexus has been punched. I can't breathe properly. My mother gave them this information? My mother was born outside the city? Under the simulation?

"How?" I say, hungry for this information.

At the age of twelve children of the Farms are put under the simulation. Any sooner and they don't have sufficient learning or brain function to handle it, any later and some will manifest Divergence in the teenage years. Natalie was born into the idea of a perfect world created by the programmers but before the children were put under she begun to question it. They practically brainwash them in the early communal childhood years. They teach them that being under the simulation is basically as close to perfection as you can get.

Before she was scheduled to be put under the Simulation Natalie crept into one of the Programmer's control rooms and downloaded some encrypted files onto a hard-drive. What she found on that computer scared her more than anything and she escaped. She never told anyone how she did it. Zoe tells us that she thought it involved a lot of killing.

My mother escaped from the simulation? She wasn't even born in Chicago? This scares me. How did she get into the city?

Apparently she was picked up a few months later by a Resistance undercover operative and taken to one of the underground bases. She gave them the hard-drive and they learned about the existence of the Divergent cities.

_Our_ city. Chicago was set up by the government as an experiment. A city designed to produce Divergents for experimentation. The people in the cities weren't under a simulation but they were still living a lie. And when the Resistance learned about the existence of cities above the Scar, the possibility of that many Divergents that could help in the war was too incredible to comprehend. A goldmine of Divergents.

"What do you mean a goldmine of Divergents? Why should the cities have more Divergents than… all the other places?" Caleb asks this question in a shaky voice. He looks thoroughly disturbed by all this information.

"Because", Zoe tells us, "the cities were specially designed to manifest Divergents. That was the information Natalie found. It was a hidden code, buried deep in the original files about the cities. It was a cry for help and Edith Prior put it there."

* * *

**AN: So, in Allegiant they say there were eight generations of people living in the city, so I'm kind of equating that to two hundred years, give or take. **

**Funny story, but I wrote this as expositional dialogue about a week ago. Then I went to one of my writing lectures where we were told explicitly NOT to write expositional dialogue. So I re-wrote it as internal monologue as Tris interprets it. I hope it makes sense. If you guys could leave a review telling me what you think and whether it works or not that would be awesome. Thanks : )**

**Also, sorry about the exposition dump but it had to happen sometime. I'll get on with the action in the next couple of chapters. I hope you like my explanation as to what happened. If you find any contradictions or plot holes please tell me so I can fix them. I'll post the next chapter tomorrow with the rest of the explanation.**

**P.S. I live in Australia. My knowledge of America comes from Google Maps and Wikipedia, so my bad if I screwed any geography up.**


	13. Chapter 13

Prior's video. The entire reason we escaped the city. And my mother was the one who found it. Found the cities for the Resistance. I can't help but feel a warm pride. But also sadness, because she never told us, I never even suspected.

And the fact that the cities were made to specifically manifest Divergents? I don't understand what that is all about.

Zoe is still going with the origin story while I reel internally. Tobias is gripping the table, his knuckles white and his face taught.

"Prior was a Divergent, caught at the end of the war. She realised when they didn't kill her that she was meant for something else. She found out about the City projects that were being formulated above the scar, she couldn't escape so she hid the information in layers of code about the Divergents. It was a cry for help and Natalie found it when she escaped from the Farm. Prior knew her fate was to be used in one of these experiments. Her memory would be wiped and she would be forced to live out her life in a cage. She managed to make a video and hide it within your city. She had faith that the Resistance would prevail and the Divergents that the city would produce could then leave and help us."

"Why were they 'manifesting' Divergents in the city? If they are so dangerous why is this government trying to produce them?" Uriah asks it quietly, but I can hear his voice shaking.

"The cities were designed as experiments. To keep the rest of the population under the simulation they constantly have to alter and change it to different brain functions. Eventually if you are under the simulation for long enough, you develop Divergence, you understand that what you are seeing isn't real. They had problems with it in the first few years. That is why the cities were implemented. What better way to continue to change the serum than to experiment on Divergents not under the original serum? The Faction system was specifically designed to produce Divergence."

"What?" the word bursts from my lips and hangs in the air. The faction system is a lie? Everything we were taught, that we belong somewhere, that we could fit in and live our lives _knowing_ who we were is a lie?

"Of course…" Zoe smiles at me, a limp smile full of pity. "People can't be categorised by one specific trait. You know this Tris. You refused to let it stop you from caring and being brave and selfless and smart. You are a Divergent perhaps because you already know who you are. You fight for what you believe in. The factions represent these values separately but people have them all, it's part of being human.

So the cities were designed to manifest Divergents and because they refuse to be categorised most of them ended up Factionless. And nobody cared about the Fationless. So they were free to be experimented on."

I think of Evelyn and all the rest of them, sharing food and living, refusing to be categorized into the system. Refusing to be part of it and being cast out from it. And I think of the Abnegation massacre, just because there were Divergents there, when there were more in the Factionless. I feel the anger rise in me.

Was I just a slave all this time? All the training to be Dauntless, the fear simulation, Jeanine's experiments on me in Erudite headquarters. I was just another part of the Government's web of lies. I narrow my eyes. Someone is going to pay for this. Jeanine is dead. I breathe out a deep sigh. The Government then. I will tear down this simulation if it's the last thing I do with my life. I had a choice. Divergence is a choice and I will give it to everyone under the simulation.

I want to find out more about my mother though.

"What happened to Natalie? How did mum get inside the city?" I ask.

"Once the Resistance found out about the Cities above the scar we decided to launch an undercover mission there. A team of twenty was chosen to infiltrate the city and bring the truth to the Divergents so they could escape. But it didn't go to plan. The resistance didn't know about security and protection surrounding the outer limits and the team was almost obliterated by the Sims on the wall. Natalie was the only one to make it in. And then Jeanine found her."

I grit my teeth. Jeanine?

Jeanine was apparently in charge of the experiments. A Programmer inserted into the city to control the experiments performed there. There's one every generation and they relay the experiment data back to the central Government. She found Natalie before she entered the city and was captured. Jenine experimented on her before she realised that Natalie was a very strong Divergent. She disobeyed an order to kill her and instead gave her memory serum inserting her into Dauntless. But Natalie fought the Serum and ended up meeting your father with her memories intact. She knew she was being watched though, so to escape both Erudite and Dauntless they both chose Abnegation. And Natalie didn't give up on finding Prior's video and stopping the experiments. Eventually she found it, and released it to Abnegation but by then it was too late and Jeanine had begun the simulation.

"In the early days the Scar was guarded by a Government patrols the entire way up and down. The only way across was with a Dropship and if it didn't have a Government tag it would just be shot to pieces out of the sky." Zoe smiles then, "so we stole an Ion Cannon and shot all their communication satellites down. That was five years ago, when the Resistance judged that the time was right to try and launch a counter attack. We were able to move up into the Scar and find this base to try and extract Divergents from the cities. The rest of the Resistance below that scar are fighting to stop the Government coming after us and just blowing up the cities. Because they would do it."

She sighs then. "What we didn't count on though was what would happen inside the cities before we had a chance to try extraction. Without communication to the Government the implants inside the city began to rule them in their own way. The other two cities deteriorated much faster than Chicago."

I notice Nita's posture stiffen suddenly her mouth tightening into an even thinner line.

"Milwaukee was the first to disassemble and dissolve into anarchy. The Divergents were nearly all murdered by the Government insert there. We had to destroy the Programmer on the Wall and get inside the city and we sustained heavy losses which set us back. It took nearly two years to stop the fighting and extract the survivors. The carnage was horrific and I'm glad we never got any footage of what happened inside. Nearly three quarters of the population were killed." Zoe points to a city on the map not too far above Chicago. I wonder whether we would have reached it if we decided to go north instead of west.

"Minneapolis went down not long after that. The Insert there tried to induce everyone under the simulation and would have succeeded if half the city hadn't been lit on fire. We are there currently trying to extract the survivors. We lost two of our Dropships to the Milwaukee Wall which makes things difficult. It's also why we couldn't make it to Chicago, we were able to hack into the short range video surveillance though, and that's how we know all this.

In the five years since the communications went down Jeanine built her power up. She managed to hold onto her control of the city. Until she felt threatened by Divergents. She couldn't control them so the next best thing was to start murdering them. She used the Dauntless and other factions to root out the Divergents and then kill them. Then Natalie uncovered Prior's video and Abnegation were going to release it to the city. It just threw fuel onto the fire and Jeanine was ready to explode. She must have realised the only way to stop them was to murder them and send the city into anarchy."

I just sit there letting this information slide over me. I store it in my brain for examination later but I can't seem to grasp a hold of all of it at once.

"Why didn't you come and save us?" asks Christina. "You have all this fancy technology, you could have just sent your giant ship in and we would have listened."

"Would you?" asks Nita. "What would you have thought of outsiders? I was taught they were dangerous. A threat to society. If the Resistance had shown up while the Factions were still in play I bet everyone would have just remained in the safe little city. Of course, until Jeanine would have ordered the Resistance to be killed."

"Also, even though this sounds harsh, Chicago just wasn't a priority." Zoe grimaces, "The other cities were losing citizens much faster and we had to extract them and get them to the main body of the resistance. We're sorry, but there was no way we could have come any sooner without sustaining heavy losses and risking the extraction of the other cities. Now that the Programmer on the Chicago wall is dead, we can start dismantling the Sims there but city extraction is still dangerous. I don't know how Evelyn is going to react to the Resistance. She seems content with ruling the city from her position…"

"So what now?" asks Tobias.

"Now… well we can give you a couple of days rest and recovery but you'll need to make the decision as to whether you want to stay here and help with extraction or we can send you down to the main resistance where we are nearly ready to launch the main attack. It's up to you," Zoe says it like they are both equally good choices.

We really have just walked into another war. We were unknowingly helping this Central Government for years. I think of what Jeanine did to me in the Erudite headquarters, all for the sake of a sick idea for a perfect world. I look to Tobias and see the determination in his eyes. I harden my own. The Government is going to pay for what we went through. We would have to rebuild this broken world into something new.


	14. Chapter 14

We all slowly rise from our seats at the table. Our shell-shocked expressions mark us out as we tiredly make to follow Zoe. But there in the doorway all of a sudden is Mathew. His scrubs still have some remnants of blood on them and he looks even wearier than us. He runs his hand through his hair and looks at us with his exhausted eyes. Then he smiles.

"She's going to be ok."

Well thank the Universe… I feel as if a massive weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I lean my head backwards and whisper my thanks for medical knowledge and science. Cara is going to be ok. The others all looked relieved as well and Caleb even puts his head in his hands.

Mathew was still talking. "She won't be conscious for another couple of hours but I'll call you lot if there is any change."

Zoe beams at him. "Thanks Matt. I'm about to show them to dorm 5."

Mathew moves into the room towards Nita but I don't catch any of the conversation before we all file down the hallway with Zoe. We take six flights of stairs down before coming to a floor marked with a huge red five on the door.

"Up on the top floor is the refectory so you'll have to go up there for food. On this floor is our set of dorms with hot showers and warm beds."

A hot shower. I can't even imagine how good that is going to feel in another five minutes. Then I can rub off all the blood and dirt from today and start fresh again. I hope.

"Oh also," says Zoe, turning to face us so that she's walking backwards down the hall, "We're having a movie night tomorrow, it's one of our favourites. It's in the refec at eight."

"Movie night?" asks Christina.

"Oh, of course, sorry. We found a hard drive when we moved into this base that had files way back from the early twenty-first century on it. Pretty much all of it was useless and not very helpful to our cause but we do enjoy watching what's on there. Except the Porn folder… that way darkness lies. Honestly two terabytes of the stuff. I don't understand why or how…" Zoe trails off realising that we're all staring at her quizzically. I vaguely wonder what 'porn' is.

She clears her throat. "Anyway, movies were a form of entertainment back then. The Matrix is what we'll be watching. We'd love you lot to come along. It'll be fun to get to know you more."

Zoe smiles again and shows us the dorms and the bathroom before leaving. There are piles of the same type of purposeful clothing Nita and everyone else in the base are wearing and I pick out a shirt and some pants my size.

The shower was pure bliss. I let the water run over my damaged body, the bruises from the day, dirt, and grime all wash down the drain. I try not to dwell on everything that we've been told but it keeps encroaching on my mind.

I find it hard to believe that my mother was born out here. Out in this dangerous world, she was born a slave and she escaped only to be sent into the city to be a different kind of slave. She never gave up, she sacrificed everything for the resistance including her live and while I feel a desperate sadness in my chest I can't help but let it mingle with a warm pride.

And Prior's video too… maybe she was my great, great, great grandmother or something and though she got captured and forced into a memory wipe she still had the courage to try and stop it. I think about my family. It seems all of us were involved in this war with different roles to play. My brother is a traitor, my mother and father both died to save me and give me freedom and my grandmother is possibly one of the first members of the Resistance. I wonder what my part in all this will be. Zoe and Nita, they need me for something, and I need to find out what. I turn off the hot water and put it out of my mind for now.

As I put the new clothes on I feel infinitely better. More alive and desperately, desperately hungry. I had completely forgotten that the last thing I ate was soggy crackers more than ten hours ago…

Tobias, Uriah, Christina and I claim beds close to each other and as far away from Peter and Caleb as possible. We may have all made it here together but that doesn't mean I am about to forgive or forget what both of them did to me.

We all decide the best course of action at this time is to make our way to the refec and eat as much food as we can.

We got lost twice in the warren of concrete hallways before Christina managed to nab someone in the hallway to give us directions to the glorious food.

And glorious it was. Hot chicken soup and bread is thoroughly satisfying. The refec is half-full at this time, being only around seven in the evening, but people file in and out constantly so I begin to think it might be like this most of the time. I spot the blonde-haired Reggie who picked us up in the drop-ship and motion him over. He walks to us with a slight hesitation but gives up and sits next to Tobias.

"So, you're part of the resistance? What do you do?" I ask.

"I'm mainly part of the recon teams sent into Minneapolis each week to try and extract the survivors. It's hard… most of them are more terrified of the war outside than their small war inside their city."

I wonder what will happen if we try to extract people in our city. If we try to tell them the truth. Will they except it or reject it? Will they fight for freedom?

"Were you born in a city?" asks Christina.

"Nah, thank-god." Reggie pauses before he realises who we are, "Sorry, it's just that I think the City people find it difficult to adjust and after I saw the carnage of Milwaukee I'm glad I wasn't part of that. But no, I was born into the resistance below the Scar. I wasn't a Divergent so they sent me up here to train to be one. Took me ages but I managed it in the end."

"Train?" Christina latches onto the word, "What do you mean? You can _learn_ to become Divergent?" Her eyes are wide at the implications of this. My heart is suddenly speeding up as well. They know what Divergence is.

"Of course you can learn it." Reggie says this with a grin, "Divergence is just an answer to how we think, a different mode I suppose. Some people get caught up in one value too much and, we think anyway, that this is what lets them be susceptible to the simulation. But Divergence is being able to alter your thoughts. That was why the factions were implemented into the cities, they conformed people to one mode of thinking so Divergence manifested much faster. Fundamentally, people don't want to be controlled."

I think about this. About the day of my aptitude test. The day I was supposed to know where to belong, how to be controlled. Maybe I knew all along that I didn't fit into just one category and I thought this meant something was wrong with me. I can't help but smile. They will _never_ control me.

Christina is grinning as well. "Good. I am going to learn this Divergent thing all of you have going for yourselves. I will not be controlled again."

Uriah grins at her, "then we can all be happy Divergents living in a simulated world."

Reggie snorts, "Yeah, about that. I think the Resistance is beginning to pick up speed. If we extract Chicago that means David could probably begin the shutdown sooner."

"Who's David?" asks Tobias.

"The leader of the Resistance. I'm surprised Nita didn't tell you. But then I suppose she must have told you a lot of other stuff."

"Yeah, about Nita. What the hell is her problem?" asks Christina.

It was the wrong question because I see Reggie's eyes harden and his voice is suddenly tight. "I think you should ask her that. She's been through a lot and it mustn't be easy for her to continue extracting people up here when the real war is being fought below the Scar."

"So why doesn't she go there?"

"Because she's not a Divergent and we can't afford to lose good soldiers to the simulation."

Reggie finishes his soup and bread and gets up to leave. "Look, I know you guys are all Dauntless soldiers with tonnes of training or whatever, but if you want, I can show you something you may not have seen before?"

"Like what?" asks Tobias somewhat suspiciously.

"Like fully functional Exos." Reggie grins again, "If you guys are up for it I have a free afternoon tomorrow and we could start some training in them?"

"Exos, those exo-skeleton armour things Zoe told us about? Hells yes I am in!" Uriah says and I nod my head enthusiastically. Tobias reserves his judgement for later.

We finish up dinner and decide to try and see Cara but she's still sleeping and Matthew turns us away. I feel comforted knowing he's keeping a watchful eye on her.

* * *

**AN: Ok, so in the next few chapters I may have gone a little bit crazy with the advanced technology, but I did put this in the science-fiction genre. Trust me though, Exos are awesome! :D **


	15. Chapter 15

I sleep for a few hours before waking up to the darkness of the dorm and the slow breaths of the others still deep in sleep. I sigh and put my arm over my face. I can't seem to grasp the idea of an entire world being out there. An entire new world to discover. My life in the city just seems so small and useless compared to the enormity of the war we now face. But it's a war I'm determined to fight.

I peek out from under my arm at Tobias. He sleeps on his stomach with one arm under his head. His face loses all the tension in sleep. He looks peaceful, serene. I wonder what kind of world we would live in if he had this face when he was awake. I wonder whether it would have to be perfect. But then, perfection is just another lie. A dream that we all have, because perfection doesn't exist without lies. That's all the simulation is. Just another lie to keep people sedated and controlled.

I think of all the pain and hurt that I've endured. Dauntless training, being shot, losing my mother and father. Losing friends, it hurts and it's painful, but when I remember them I also remember that I am alive. That I have made this choice to keep on living, to continue despite the pain and the loss and the hurt. Because there are moments that I remember fondly, moments of pleasure of freedom. Kissing Tobias, feeling his heat, his warmth around me, nothing could replicate that. Trying to touch the stars at the top of the radio tower whilst the wind whipped me. It was terrifying but exhilarating and I can't help but feel so sorry for all those people that have never got to feel these things of their own free will. Maybe they've been _told_ to feel them but I don't think they really _know_.

And that just makes me angry, who thinks they have the _right_ to take this away from people? These Programmers have no right to just inflict their version of a perfect society onto others. Society is built around choice and the people under the simulation never even got a chance to make theirs.

I can't stay still any longer so I get up slowly and put my shoes on, intending to go for a walk.

"Where are you going?" the whisper comes from beside me and I almost jump out of my skin.

"Jesus, Tobias!" I hiss at him, he must have woken up while I put my shoes on but didn't move. "Try not to give me a heart attack next time… I can't sleep, I'm going for a walk. Want to come?"

He's already getting up and putting a shirt over his bare chest. I watch him in the dim light. And he knows I'm watching him because when his head pops through the neck of the shirt he looks straight at me and I flush. He raises his eyebrows.

"Just admiring the goods," I whisper as he puts his shoes on, I give him a mischievous grin and take his hand as we walk through the deserted corridors.

"Let's go outside, I want to know where the base is." He says and we make our way slowly though the twisting corridors upwards to the hanger.

There are people here looking tired and they glance at us as we pass them. They tend to the hulking shapes with big machines or cables and computers. Tobias and I weave our way around the vehicles slowly, taking in their sleek shapes and strange wings. I wonder whether any of them could fly like the Dropship. Some of them certainly don't look like they are capable of flight.

As we pass the colossal dark Dropship, a middle aged woman with short cropped black hair appears out in front of it. She looks at us curiously before tilting her head in recognition. She grins at us, "hey new kids."

"Uh, hi," I say.

"I'm Karen, the pilot that took you guys here yesterday. Nice to meet you, sorry I didn't get a chance to introduce myself sooner." She puts out her hand and we shake it. It's a firm handshake.

"I'm Tris," I smile at her. Karen's easy-going nature is catching onto me.

"Four," and he gives her a half-smile.

"What are you kids doing up this early in the morning?" She asks it with raised eyebrows and a twinkle in her eye.

"Couldn't sleep so we decided to go for a walk. Are we allowed outside?" I ask as an afterthought.

Karen shrugs before smiling knowingly. "Sure, you guys are Divergent right?"

"Er, yes. Why?"

"In case you're captured and questioned on the whereabouts of the base. Though I suppose you wouldn't know where we are anyway." She takes us through the hanger towards the giant sliding door.

To the side is another small door and she unlocks it with a card, like the tower back at the Wall.

"Give the secret knock to get back in," she winks at us and we exit the door into a pre-dawn world. She laughs at our expectant expressions before closing the door. I go to bash on it and yell at Karen to let us back in but Tobias spots a button that is probably an alarm.

"Real funny," he says but there is a smile on his face.

"I like her, she seems carefree despite what the Resistance has to face." I say.

"I do too, but I don't think that means we should trust them all yet."

"Why not? You saw the Wall and those soldiers." I shiver and push the blank faces from my mind.

"I know that much is true, but I want to know more about this world. And we don't even know how they plan to shut down the simulation or even how it's running. We need some answers and I don't know how willing they'll be to give them to us. It doesn't help that they want to use us, they're planning something with you. I bet I'll have a part to play in trying to get Evelyn out of the city…"

"We'll get the answers soon enough, I'm sure of it," I say it with much more certainty than I feel because he does make a valid point. They need us for something.

"I just don't want it to be too late…" his voice trails off as we discover what we have walked out into.

The chill pre-dawn air fogs our breaths as we stare out into the wilderness. The door is on a small rock-ledge set into an alcove on the side of a mountain. We are high on the side of an enormous mountain, a massive mountain… just a huge amount of land heaped up into a mountain shape and covered with more trees than I thought was possible. The light is poor at this time but I can still make out a valley. We're in a kind of bowl made by a range of mountains surrounding a small lake, its shimmering just visible in the distance. I look to my left to try and spot the enormous hanger door, but all I can see is the same sheer rock face. It must be disguised, like the Dropship's invisibility panels.

To my right is a tiny path that leads around the mountain, a tiny path with a drop off the sheer rocks.

"Let's climb the mountain," I suggest.

Tobias stares at me for a second before drawing me in and kissing me. I wrap my arms around him and sigh. It feels like forever since we've been alone. "You just love taking me outside my comfort zone don't you?" he says it with a small smile and humour in his eyes that makes me want to melt.

"It's more fun. Come on," I take his hand and lead him along the narrow rocky path. It's well hidden and we slowly make our way up it and eventually the sheer drop only becomes a very steep one as we enter the trees. We're already well up the side of the mountain and the path leads further up so we just follow it. We don't talk, instead I let my body feel the exertion of the climb and by the time we reach the summit I am sweating and breathing hard. It feels good.

And we look out at the vastness, and I feel it far more profoundly in that moment on top of the mountain than at any other time since leaving the city. Because the world is enormous. The bowl valley in front of us and the mountains behind us, it stretches on and on. I have Tobias's hand in mine and I cling to it as the last few stars disappear from the sky to make way for the dawn.

"It's incredible…" he breathes. He leans down to me and this time I put everything into the kiss. This feeling of vastness, of discovery and loss. I don't know whether I will ever discover anything else in my life as profound as this feeling. And he anchors me to it, to this mountain, to the dawn, to the world.

I take my hands and slip them under his shirt to feel his smooth skin. My cold fingertips leave trails of goose-bumps as I trace them up his back. I feel where each of his tattoos are moving slowly. Then I feel his hands on me. He slips them up my shirt and encircle my waist. His hands leave trails of heat all around them and I have the abstract thought in the moment, _why aren't his hands cold like mine?_ But then it flickers away as our kiss deepens. We are together and nothing can break us apart

The sun finally rises, its bright orange dawn-light hitting our faces and setting our eyes on fire.

* * *

**AN:** **This scene took me forever to write and I'm still unsure what I think about it. Please leave a review letting me know what you think. They help a lot. :) Another chapter is coming in a couple of hours.**


	16. Chapter 16

By the time we both get down from the mountain the others are already eating breakfast. They raise their eyes at us, the same twinkle in them that Karen had when she let us out. Geez, did everyone just make assumptions? Then I think of us together on top of the mountain and my face lights up like a bright crimson beacon. Great, now they're sniggering.

After we finish an extremely awkward breakfast we go to see Cara. Surprisingly Nita is already in the small hospital room with Mathew. Cara is holding a thin screen that has one of the maps we saw yesterday displayed on it. Her expression is horrified and her face is still pale but she looks mostly better. Nita and Mathew must have been explaining about the war.

"So you're saying," says Cara in a shaky voice, she sounds beaten, "You're saying that what I fought for, the Allegiant, is just a lie? The factions are just _lies_ set up to control us. I was fighting for _nothing?_"

"No, never." Says Nita, her eyes glinting. She has an intensity in her voice. "The Faction System was a lie, yes, but the _values_, what they represented is very real. And you fought for that. I believe when they are divided the Factions are weak. People don't just have one defining characteristic, life isn't about that. Knowledge, bravery, kindness, honesty and selflessness, I believe we have _all _these qualities within us. But they don't define us. We can be all of them or one of them or some of them. We need to build a new world united in this because _together_ they are powerful. I fight for that. A world in which each and every one of us can be all of those things if we choose. A world without a simulation, without factions, where we have a choice of where we belong, where we can be anything."

Cara nods slowly, as she comes to terms with this idea.

I look to Tobias, he looks at Nita with his distrustful face, but there I can see a new-found respect in his eyes too. I think of his beautiful tattoo on his back. He had this idea so long ago but the world we lived in wasn't ready for it. I touch his back now, remembering each symbol and knowing he has all these qualities within him. He shivers under my touch and looks down at me as I nod. He knows and I can see a determination in his eyes. He is as ready as I am for this new world, and we would create it together.

Cara smiles at Nita. "I like that idea. How will we do it though?"

"First we need soldiers. And that is where all of you come in." Nita turns to all of us now. "We need Divergents who aren't susceptible to the simulation to fight for us below the scar. The problem is that even though we can now access your city, we don't have the resources to extract them all fast enough. I need to get soldiers to David soon, before he begins the shutdown operation and because I want everyone out from above the Scar. The rebellion is too divided with us up here. I have a plan to get everyone below the Scar, the only problem is that it requires certain things that we don't have."

"What things?" asks Cara.

"Dropships," Cara's eyes light up, "We only have one operational above the Scar and the main rebellion only have eight others which they can't afford to send to us."

"So why don't we just go and get some more?" asks Uriah like it is the most obvious thing in the world.

"We don't 'get some more' because they are the most guarded thing in the entire States outside the Six Utopian Cities." Mathew replies as if it is the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh…"

"Well, actually this is another plan that I have been working on," Nita's grin is full of poorly disguised hostility.

"Do you have enough pilots?" Cara asks it with palpable longing in her eyes.

"As a matter of fact I was hoping you would ask that. We have ten in this facility but I thought we could add three more to that list. If you're not afraid of heights, of course." Nita smirks before turning to face Tobias.

"Wait, what? You want me to _fly_ one of those things? A million miles above the Earth?" Tobias says it gratingly as if he doesn't want to admit he really doesn't want to do it.

"What, are you scared?"

I watch the silent war on Tobias's face as he fights against himself. There's a long pause before he finally says, "No."

"Good, then I expect to see you bright and early tomorrow morning to start your crash course in Dropship piloting. You're coming too, Traitor Boy," she says pointing straight at Caleb, "And of course you, Legolas." She smiles at Cara.

"Hang on!" Mathew pipes up with incredulity on his face. "She's recovering from a bullet wound. You can't expect her to pilot a Dropship in this shape."

"She doesn't require legs to pilot a Dropship, she can sit in the co-pilot seat."

Mathew just stares at her, lost for words. Cara smiles at him. "It's nice that you care about me but I'll be fine by tomorrow morning. There is no way I will be missing this opportunity," she adds.

"You will not be fine by tomorrow morning! You have a giant hole, in your leg!"

"But my brain still works, and apparently you don't need legs to fly a dropship." She pats Mathew on the shoulder, "I'll be fine."

Mathew sighs and throws his hands in the air. "Fine, but if you start bleeding again don't expect any more blood from me."

"Oh," Cara looks at him this time with a warmness in her eyes, "Thank-you. For helping me."

"You're welcome. Just don't waste it." He sighs and leans against the wall.

"What about us?" I ask, "What are we going to do while they get to fly Dropships?" I am slightly jealous that I didn't get asked to pilot one.

Nita turns to me with a crooked smile. "You guys, are going to be my ground team. We don't have many trained soldiers at this base, and fewer that I can risk. But since you lot just kind of dropped into my lap, I'm going to use you. I hope you don't mind."

"What for?" asks Christina, through her teeth.

"Well, I heard Reggie is going to show you the Exos this afternoon. You better learn to be a Divergent fast, Christina, if you want in on this mission. Because I need you lot to pilot the Exos for this to work."

"Can't I just learn to fly a Dropship? Why do I have to be a Divergent?"

"Dropships require a certain amount of individual programming and expertise to fly, otherwise I would have asked you instead of Tobias. But since you don't have the programming experience you can learn to use an Exo instead. Only problem is, Exos can only be ridden by Divergents."

"Fine, I'll 'ride' one of your Exos." She sounds determined.

"Good." And Nita walks out the door, leaving us all wondering what her plan entails.

I still have no idea what an Exo is but I am excited to find out. The way Nita says she's going to use us gives weight to Tobias's own misgivings about what the Resistance is planning for us. But maybe that's just her way of being honest. Or maybe that is all a soldier is, a tool to be used. Because that's what we are now, soldiers. We have a place in this war and I am ready to fight back.


	17. Chapter 17

After a glance at us, Mathew leaves the room as well. Cara looks up at us immediately dropping her smile.

"What do you think, Four?" she asks.

"I think they want us to try and win their war for them. And I think Nita has a little bit of a personal vendetta that she seems to be crusading on. I don't know whether we should get caught up in it."

"We're caught up in it anyway. I never even imagined that it was going to be this bad outside. Somehow I thought that the outsiders would come and help make… Chicago, a better place." She stumbles over the name of our city. I still feel strange calling it that.

"But now they want to extract everyone? How are they going to do that?" I ponder.

"I suspect Nita will use me." Tobias looks slightly peeved at this, "I don't know whether Evelyn or the Allegiant will come to an agreement to fight a different war. I don't think Evelyn will give up the power she has gained so fast."

"So what are they going to do? Threaten to kill them unless they fight in this new war? People aren't going to fall for that. Not everyone wants to die for something they don't even know about, let alone understand." Caleb says this until he realise we are all staring at him. I grit my teeth.

"Is that what Jenine did? Threaten to kill you unless you complied, because let's face it Caleb, you didn't understand a thing that was going on inside the city. None of us did, but that didn't stop you from betraying me and our family." I say it with a deadly calm. If he says anything I feel like I will rip his head off.

Caleb looks away from me, he looks upset but not sorry. He opens his mouth to reply–

"Get out, Caleb," Tobias says it dangerously. "Just get out now before someone hurts you."

Caleb lets out a breath and turns to leave. But changes his mind and turns to face me, is he going to apologise? I shouldn't have got my hopes up. "Look Tris, Jenine was persuasive–

I explode, "PERSUASIVE? She was persuasive, was she? Persuasive enough to get you to sacrifice and betray your own sister? To let me believe you, trust you, love you until you throw it all away for a bit of power? You cowardly little shit! You don't even deserve to be here!"

I can't speak anymore I am so angry. He never even apologised to me, didn't even try. And he's still trying to rationalise his decision. His eyes are wide as he looks at me, still defensive of his own actions. That's it.

"Tris, I–

I fly through the air and punch him in the face, I feel my knuckle grind and stab me with pain. We're on the ground and I just hit him. Over and over again. Angry tears fall as I scream at him and he doesn't fight back. I want him to but he just takes it. His arms raised feebly trying to protect his head as I sit on him pounding.

It takes both Uriah and Tobias to wrench me away. But I still scream "TRAITOR" at Caleb until Tobias drags me out of the room and into the hallway. The others all look a horrified and Caleb is a bleeding mess on the hospital floor.

Tobias dumps me in the hallway where I lean against the wall, shaking and holding my bruised hand to my chest.

"What the hell was that Tris?" His voice is dangerous and hard. If I was expecting comfort I wasn't getting it. I can't look at his face, I don't want to see the disappointment that is probably there.

"He had it coming."

"Maybe he did, but that was no excuse to keep beating him. You knocked him down, you punished him, just leave it."

And then I just slide down the wall. I let it go, my anger melts into frustration and I have to let it out. And now I'm sobbing in the middle of a hallway with people staring at me.

"Why won't he apologise?" I sob, as Tobias stands over me. His arms are crossed as he looks down at me.

"Would you accept it if he did?" that's a hard truth, because I don't think I would. I don't think I can right now.

I must be a mess. I put my head in my hands to avoid looking at him. Until I feel his warmth slide down the wall so that he sits next to me. His arm slides around my back and I lean into his side, hiding my snotty face in his chest.

His arms tighten around me and I just forget everything in this moment. The war, my frustration, it all just melts away in his arms. I feel ashamed, I can't believe I snapped so fast and so brutally. Caleb had it coming but I feel like I've just spoiled the morning we just had.

"I'm sorry." I mumble into his chest.

"What for? You didn't leave me as a bloody pulp on a hospital room floor." I can feel his chest rumbling in a laugh. "But I'd love to see you try."

"I could take you any day…" I don't really think I could but I lift my face to his and he leans down to mine and kisses me. I sigh, feeling complete again.

"Excuse me, we have a 'no kissing in the hallway' rule here. Please refrain from your actions immediately." It's Uriah, standing above us. I glance at him before pulling Tobias closer and pashing him for a solid thirty seconds.

Uriah makes retching sounds.

We break apart, finally, and I sigh and get up wiping my eyes on my sleeve.

"We were in the middle of making plans with Cara. I don't know about you guys but we should probably talk about what we're all going to do now."

Christina's sitting on Cara's bed and gives me a little smile as I walk back in. Caleb and Peter are both gone from the room and I pointedly ignore a bit of blood on the floor. I go and lean against one of the walls.

"So…" says Cara, trying to pick up from where we left off. "I believe Nita will use Four and I to try and negotiate both sides of the city into a truce and then get them all out of the city…"

"Will you be used though?" I ask.

"If it's the only other option then I suppose yes. But I don't want everyone to be involved in the war. I don't know whether Nita is taking every Divergent below the Scar to fight or whether others will be able to stay behind. I can hardly see a bunch of Amity or Candors as soldiers. I doubt half of them will even pick up weapons. We need to protect the people inside the city from this."

"Do we though? We've always been a part of this war, the only difference is that we now know about it." I say.

"True, but that idea of choice. People should be able to decide whether they want to help or not."

"If they don't help they'll just be put under the simulation anyway. And then they'll be fighting against us." I can't see any way around it.

"Maybe," says Uriah. "Maybe we should just take the soldiers out of the city and leave those who don't want to fight in."

"Then they'll be defenceless," Cara points out, "And Evelyn will still be in control."

"So, we need a plan that gives us Divergent soldiers, takes Evelyn's power away, not leave the innocents in the city undefended, and allows us to take down an evil government that uses the entire population of a country as slaves. Excellent, tell me when you know what to do." Says Christina.

We're all silent.

"Evelyn controls all of the Factionless soldiers. We need her to give them to us, but I don't think they'll follow anyone else," says Tobias. "So the only way she's going to come outside the city and fight this war is if she's going to be guaranteed some power and control over her own soldiers."

"Well, three out of four ain't bad, I suppose," says Uriah bleakly.

* * *

**AN: I loved the Tris beating on Caleb scene in Allegiant and for my character arcs to work it needed to happen again. I hope it worked out ok!**


	18. Chapter 18

We leave Cara to rest some more and go to the refectory. While we eat lunch, Reggie comes over to us and sits down.

"I'm excited to see what you guys will be capable of. Exos are pretty hard to ride."

"How come only Divergents can 'ride' them?" says Christina, making air quotes.

"They run via serum injection. Basically your mind controls the suit using a serum but you need to be able to control the serum first."

"So it's opposite to what the serums were developed for? How do these things exist then?" Tobias looks quizzically at him. It makes sense, if the Exos needed Divergents to pilot them, why develop them in the first place, when the objective of the war was to control Divergents?

"They were invented before the war, I don't know what for. And later when it broke out, most of them were destroyed by the Government. They couldn't have pesky rebels using them to fight." Then Reggie smiles, his blonde hair falls into his eyes as he ducks his head. "But then we discovered this base, it's ex-military, and found an entire cache of them. David says they're too valuable to let the Government know we have them, that's why they're up here and not with the rest of the rebellion. When we have enough Divergents for a big attack though, the Government isn't going to know what hit 'em."

I wonder what Nita wants to use them for. We're going to get more Dropships, but if the place where they have them is so heavily guarded how is a couple of people in these armoured suits going to fight back?

We finish lunch and Reggie leads us down the central stairs. I count twelve levels before we get to the bottom of the stairwell. A big black door with a drop-bar guards the next room. Reggie lifts it up and pushes open the door to reveal total darkness. He walks through, feeling along the wall for something. Finding it, I hear the flip of a switch and the darkness retreats as floodlights flare.

"Welcome, to the Cavern." Reggie grins at our awed expressions.

The room was _huge_. I couldn't even call it a room because that just makes it sound small. It truly was a cavern, a rough stone floor, widening to a massive arching ceiling, over fifty metres above my head. We must be further underground than I thought. It looks like a natural cathedral.

Stalactites dripped down from the ceiling to meet half-formed pillars on the floor. A number of them were broken off and I could see deep ruts and scratches on the stone walls and floor. Graffiti littered the walls closest to us. Names and dates, Jeff 3/12/1984, or Sarah 5/02/2010 to I guessed what was recently added: Reggie 24/07/2214.

Two hundred years of time between the last set of graffiti and Reggie's. I brush my hand over it.

"Two hundred years…"

Reggie notices and shrugs. "Give or take. We don't actually know what year it is. I think the Government has kept track, but most of the stuff we've hacked hasn't been related to history."

Reggie leads us around the left side of the cavern. "When the Resistance arrived here, they didn't know how to work the Exos they found. I managed to find a vial of the control serum still intact and with Mathew's help we were able to develop more. The airtight room they were kept in preserved them almost perfectly, they're well-made too so don't be afraid that it'll fall apart when you wear it."

"So these things are two hundred years old?" says Christina, looking extremely doubtful.

"But they're totally safe! Trust me, we've only had a couple of failures since we got them to work."

"You're failing to fill me with confidence." Christina's voice is on edge.

I can't help but feel excited. I just want to try one of them on and get it over with. I grin up at Tobias next to me and he raises his eyebrows back.

"This is going to be fun." I say.

Reggie leads us into a room, through a sealed door. It's long, with two rows of strange metal armour suits lining the walls and rows of hooks hanging from the ceiling. In the middle is a row of benches, punctuated by stands that hold an assortment of power tools.

"What are they for?" I ask walking over. There's a number of drills and strange looking drill bits, with a set of pliers. They look slightly terrifying, like torture instruments.

"You have to put the suit on somehow. Mostly they fit together automatically but sometimes bits have to be tightened before you go."

"Right…" I look doubtfully at the tools, I'm beginning to have some misgivings about this whole thing.

We follow Reggie down the end were he picks out one of the smaller suits with extra chest space.

"Boob slots," says Christina while appraising the suit. Uriah and I snort at the same time.

Reggie heaves it off the shelf and onto one of the hooks dangling from the ceiling. Next he grabs a strange pack from the wall explaining that it was the battery.

"You've got around eight hours of regular use out of this thing before it leaves the suit dragging you down like a sack of potatoes. If you use the Exo on max, you've only got four hours. So conserve power where you can. We can't afford to carry extra batteries."

I ask where all the power comes from for these to work. Reggie tells us that there is a wind farm that they were able to 're-purpose' for their own use and hook it up to power the facility.

Reggie fits the battery onto the back of the Exo and the metal on the front lights up. It's a dark metal, all fitted together seamlessly but also smoothly. I could see where the joints are and where the weak spots were too. There was only a tough fabric under the arms and knees, to allow for more free movement I guessed. The waist also had joints at the hips. The metal on the arms stopped short above where your hands were supposed to go. The whole thing looked rather dark and menacing but also powerful. Very powerful.

Next Reggie walks over to one of the tables and takes two vials out of a box. "The serums each have a unique coding. One goes into the suit and one into the person who will ride it. It gives you a link, allowing your mind to control the suit so that it becomes second nature. Basically it will feel like you're just wearing a super powerful new skin."

Reggie turns to me and I can feel the anticipation building. "Want to go first?"

"Hell yes." I reply. Reggie fits one of the vials into the back of the suit, the other he fits into a needle offering it to me.

I take it and inject it into my neck. Immediately I become aware of something _else_. Something outside of me. The suit in front of me could be another being. It pushed on my mind and I could feel it trying to break through. Trying to control _me_.

"What the hell, Reggie? What's going on?" I can feel it pushing, trying to touch me. The suit just hangs there on a hook but there's something about it, like it could just take control of me if I stepped inside it.

"What's going on?" I dimly hear Tobias shout. There's movement behind me, a scuffling but I can't see it. All I can see is the Exo in front of me and the will to be inside it. I walk towards it, trying to shake the feeling, trying to push the other way, but I can't.

My feet drag as I touch the suit and feel its parts peel back, the metal folding in over itself. It wants me to control it, but it controls me. I turn around and step into the boots, push my hands into the gloves, the suit folding over my legs, the metal enclosing over my chest. As soon as it closes the hook drops it, the full weight falling onto me. I would have been crushed if the suit didn't hold itself up, its joints suddenly catching the weight. And then it takes a step. I didn't take the step… the suit did. I try to cry out but I'm not in control. I can only take in the scene in front of me. Uriah and Christina are backed up against one of the walls looking at me warily. Tobias is shouting something at Reggie whilst pinning him against the wall.

The suit takes three quick steps before using my hand to pick Reggie up by the shirt collar. I am holding him above the ground. But it's not me who's holding him. I push back against the suit. I would control it, I would not be controlled. I push and I feel the suit. It really is like a second skin, the legs enclosing mine are strong. I could run forever. The arm holding Reggie up while he struggles, trying to undo my hand before he strangles himself, is much stronger than mine. But it is _mine_. I heave my mind against this barrier I feel and something breaks. Then everything falls into place.

The pushing immediately lessons as it breaks to my will. I bring Reggie close to my face, still holding him above the ground. I relish in this new power, new strength.

"Why didn't you tell me it would do that?" I ask through gritted teeth.

"Put me down… please." Reggie's face is starting to go blue. I release him and he falls to the ground choking. None of us move to help him. I stare coldly down at him.

"What the hell was that?" Tobias's voice is low and very dangerous. "Are you ok, Tris?"

Ok? I am more than ok. "I'm fine," I reply at odds with my new-found strength and power. "I would like you to tell me why you didn't mention that it would control me first?" I ask Reggie.

He smiles up at me. A slight up-turn of his lips, belying something else. Jealousy and maybe some admiration? "Nita told me to do it. She wanted to see if you truly were as impressive as we've seen."

"What?"

Reggie shrugs, "It's all about control, with the suits. It took me over twelve tries to even get near enough to make it work and you do it in the first go. You truly are something special, Tris. And we need you."

He says it without sarcasm but I feel like I'm being mocked. What do they mean by that? Does it make me a freak that I can do this on the first try? No. It makes me powerful.

"If you try that again, without telling us what we are getting into first, I will do more than strangle you a bit," says Tobias. "And if you put her into danger like that again I will find you and I will kill you."

Reggie looks a little unnerved by Tobias's calm demeanour that I know is hiding something terrible underneath.

"I'm ok," I tell him, then I grin, "Really, you have got to try one of these."


	19. Chapter 19

Reggie picks himself off the floor and turns to face the others.

"I'll set you guys up with a training suit and we'll see how you go. If you're as good as she is maybe you'll get to try your own suit."

Christina raises her eyes at me as she walks past while Uriah gives me the thumbs up.

"Are you sure you're all-right?" Tobias asks standing close to me.

I nod and take a step towards him in the Exo. It almost brings my eyes up to his level. I peer up at him. "All you have to do is know that the Exo is yours. Don't fight it, don't surrender to it. Just _know_." I bring myself up on my toes and kiss him. I can't help but feel that I'm also talking about love. It seems to be a perfect balance between fighting and surrendering. Maybe it is just knowing that you love someone and they love you back. It is perfection.

Tobias cocks his head to the side he has a twinkle in his eye and a hint of a smile creeps onto his face, "Sounds like good advice…"

I step back from him. I barely even notice the suit now. It truly is a part of me, just a part that is much more powerful than the rest. That gives me a thought.

"Still think you could beat me in a fistfight?" I ask him.

"Not a chance," he replies, "As soon as I get into one of them, you're going down."

I poke my tongue at him. "You have to get in one first." And with that I bound to one side, the step taking me halfway across the room before I break into a sprint.

It's incredible, I can feel the suit beneath me but with me. Each step takes me at least five normal ones and I race across the cavern reaching the other wall. The other wall…

I shriek as I run straight at the wall and at the last second, I have no idea whether it is the suit that does it or me, but it takes me _up_ the wall. Three massive steps up before gravity takes hold again and I backflip towards the ground. Which is at least eight metres below me. I scream and windmill my arms trying to desperately create some air-resistance or something. It doesn't work and I hit the ground.

For the second time, the suit or me, we are one. But it bends. My legs slowly bend to absorb the impact, which shatters some of the ground beneath my metal-booted feet, before rolling me to stop in a crouch. Perfectly ok. I laugh, a wild sound fills the chamber and echoes around the walls reverberating until it gets back to me.

The suit must weigh at least eighty kilograms, but it makes me feel lighter than I do not wearing it. A second skin that holds me while I control it, light as a feather but heavy enough to crack rock. I grin.

Then I spot Reggie watching me from the doorway of the room. He raises his eyebrows, "Very impressive," he calls across the cavern, I catch a hint of bitterness.

I nod at him, still a bit peeved that he lied to me.

He smiles, "Now try the grab-hook." He walks over to me and we meet in the middle. I am as tall as him now and I look directly into his eyes.

"Grab-hook?"

He takes one of my armoured arms and shows me a mechanism imbedded in the hard wrist plate.

"It fires from above your hand, so don't pull your hand up in the second before firing or it will rip right through it. Just like the rest of the suit, you have to let the hook become an extension of you. Your mind controls it, and now that you know it's there all you have to do is fire it. The suit will do the rest."

He points my arm towards one of the thickest stalactites and motions for me to shoot.

I frown at my arm and then up at the stalactite. "Errr…" I try to think about a hook being fired. Nothing happens. Reggie smirks at me.

"Not so impressive."

I drop my arm and then have a thought. I just need to motion where I want to go. The suit has been doing the rest. All I have to do is want to be up at the stalactite.

I whip my arm back behind my head as if to throw something and I just think about wanting to be at the top of the stalactite, I don't want to be there, I already am.

As my arm passes my head, mid-motion, I hear a crack and suddenly my arm is forced back by the recoil as a hook and cable fire straight into the stalactite far above my head.

Haha! I turn to Reggie and give him the biggest smirk I can manage. He raises his eyebrows and that's the last I see of his face before my arm is almost ripped out of its socket and I hurtle towards the roof at an alarming speed.

I'm screaming again, my head will be dashed against the unforgiving roof and that will be the end. But, of course, the suit suddenly flips me around so my legs hit the rock first and absorb the impact. Something is causing it to act on its own but still in my interests, I'll have to think of what later. Because right now I'm hanging upside down over fifty metres above the ground, by one tiny hook.

"REGGIE!" my screech is amplified as it travels around the cavern. He is a tiny ant on the ground and at this moment I want to drop onto his head and squish him.

"Come on Tris, I watched you before. You can get down, it's not that hard." He calls up to me in a perfectly calm voice.

"Not hard! Do you want to be fifty metres above the ground in a crazy suit?!"

"The suit's not crazy. You know a way out of this, just let yourself go. Or you can let the Exo find its way." He shrugs his shoulders.

There was no way I was going to let the Exo control me, but I can't see any other way out of it. Until I spot the other stalactites hanging from their thick bases from the roof.

This was not going to be easy.

I move around until I face the base of the closest one, then breathe out slowly. I concentrate only on the ceiling, definitely not the floor, just the ceiling. I mark out my path and then I push off.

Immediately the hook disengages from the rock and I rush towards the nearest hanging rock formation. Only I twist in the air and suddenly my feet hit the base of the rock for just a second before I push off again. The suit sends me further and faster than I could ever go alone. It has incredible strength and I fly from stalactite to stalactite far above the ground. I can't help but feel a rush. Because this is incredible. I mean, I am cheating gravity!

Until I reach the last stalactite and push off into open space.

I whip my hand back and let the hook fire at the wall. It hits it and I swing in a wide arc as it reels me in. This time instead of screaming, I am ready for it. I feel the suit twisting my body into the right position, but it doesn't feel like it's controlling me. Because I am it. It seems to be as if I subconsciously know what I'm doing before I do it.

I crouch on the wall, held up by my arm, and take in the marvellous cavern. It really is magnificent.

My swing across the roof has given me an idea and I aim my hook at one of ceiling stalactites again. Before it even fires I push myself off the wall until I feel the jolt as it hooks it but instead of reeling me in, I let it reel me out. The long swing to the ground is hilarious fun. The cold cave air whips into my face and just when I'm above the floor I let the hook disengage again.

The suit once again, takes the impact and I run a few bounding steps as it settles itself into gravity's embrace. I walk over to Reggie.

"Couldn't you have just fallen from the ceiling?" he asks.

I shrug and the bulkiness of the suit seems to augment it, "I wanted to show off."

I walk back to where the others are in a small training room. They each stare at a suit, not moving a muscle. I can see the concentration all over their faces, written in sweat. Tobias has his eyes narrowed and he looks like he would prefer to be strangling the suit.

The room is still until ever so slowly, Uriah raises his arm first and a fraction of a second later the suit in front of him does the same.

The tension is suddenly broken then as we all shout out and slap Uriah on the back. I know how hard it must be, the suit really does feel like it's controlling you.

I spend the rest of the afternoon trying to coach the others on the control. But I don't really know how I do it other than _knowing_ it is mine to control. I end up not being much help so Reggie takes one of the Exos out and we both spend time running around the cavern and perfecting hook manoeuvres.

When it is time for dinner I peel myself out of the suit and Reggie disengages the battery. Immediately I feel like I've lost something. My body feels heavier, as if the suit was the thing holding it up. I shake my head trying to get rid of the feeling until I see Reggie looking at me. More like observing, or calculating…

"What?" I ask.

He turns away from me with a shrug. The others look exhausted and as I hug Tobias he leans into me. "How do you do it?" he asks.

"I don't really know…" I trail off as I put my head to his chest. Because I don't, but I feel like I'm close to understanding what it is that makes the suits move to our will.

I catch a scrap of Uriah's conversation as he and Christina pass us. Christina looks utterly defeated.

"I don't know how you do it. Every time I thought I was getting somewhere nothing happened and then it controlled me. I don't like it Uriah, it scares me."

"Christina," he smiles at her, there is strength in that smile, "it's ok, I'm sure you'll manage it. You kind of just have to…" but he trails off awkwardly and I know how he feels. It is too hard to explain how to do it. You just have to know.

I can hear my stomach rumble as we head up the stairs. I am exhausted, the adrenaline rush that filled me has long since gone.

* * *

**AN: Sorry it's so long, I got a bit carried away. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. My bad if it's gotten a bit too science fiction, but I love the idea of advanced technology and the serums were a great way to take advantage of it. **

**I'm also going to pretend that at some point the U.S. decided to adopt the metric system.**

**Please leave a review! They help a lot with my writing and I like to know what you guys think about the story.**


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Major spoilers for the Matrix (the movie). Seriously, if you haven't seen it yet, go and watch it before reading this. I couldn't resist writing this chapter… it kind of just happened. I REGRET NOTHING!**

* * *

Dinner is hot bread and vegetable stew. We don't talk very much, the others all looking tired and defeated. Zoe spots us eating and walks over to sit with us.

"Are you enjoying the food?"

"You know," says Christina looking down at the food, "I am not in the mood for healthy dinner, I just want to stuff my face with Dauntless cake." She looks wistfully into the distance as Uriah nods his approval.

"We don't have the resources to get sweets up here, sorry." Zoe half-smiles, "I heard you guys all went to do Exo training this afternoon? How did that go?"

Christina groans and pitches her head onto the table with a bang.

"That bad, huh?"

"Not for the Divergents, at least they could move the suit." She mumbles up from the table.

"Hey, it's not all bad. I wasn't a Divergent until I came up here. It just takes a bit of training. You just have to condition your brain to think a different way."

"Really?" Christina lifts her head looking at Zoe across the table.

"Of course. Did you figure out what it is that makes the Exo move?" She directs the question at me.

"Not really… I think it has something to do with knowing that it is yours to control? I'm not sure."

Zoe nods. "That's part of it. Did the suit ever take over? What did it feel like?"

"It did, but only when I was in danger of killing myself on rocks… I guess it didn't feel like it was 'taking over' either, more like I knew what to do but the suit moved to do it instead of me… Kind of subconsciously?" I ask it as a question because I don't really know.

"Bingo," Zoe gives me one of her trademark grins, "the serum is designed to actively attach your subconscious will to the suit. That's why, when you first put the suit on, if you're not trained for it your subconscious takes over. It is kind of like bringing intentions you don't know you have to the surface and putting it in a suit. And that's why the Exos are so powerful. They know what you're doing before you do it. It's pretty incredible."

Of course, so that's what it was. It wasn't something else controlling me, it was me trying to control me. But once you know control it yours, you override it. I suppose that's why only Divergents can pilot them as well. Maybe you just need know your subconscious intentions and how to control them. I think of the fear simulation and how I knew they weren't real, that they were just in my head, and when I knew that, I could control them.

"You could have told us this sooner," says Christina.

But Zoe shrugs, "it doesn't make any difference. You have to condition yourself to realise the truth. It took me months to pilot one of them and I don't really enjoy doing it." She shudders and I suppose I feel a certain amount of sympathy, knowing that your subconscious has intentions is not exactly great.

I spot Nita enter the room as we finish eating, along with a bunch of other people. They all start moving back the tables to the edges of the room.

"Movie night is about to start. Trust me, you guys are going to love these. The effects are awesome, it looks totally real." Says Zoe, as we all stand up.

"Why is Nita here?" I ask, I hadn't really thought she would be into socialising and watching entertainment.

Zoe laughs, "Nita loves movie nights. Lord of the Rings is her favourite. I know, she totally doesn't seem like a person who likes frivolous entertainment but these movies are amazing. I would have loved to be an actor if the world was normal."

Before I can ask what a Lord of the Ring is, Nita actually comes over and smirks at me. I rise from the table not wanting her to look down on me. She does anyway and it makes me narrow my eyes. Stupid short legs.

"Can we help you?" Tobias asks through his teeth. The stunt with the Exo must still be grating on him.

She ignores him, "I heard about your skill with the Exo. First try, well done." She's staring at me with that unflinching look. I stare right back.

"Yeah, thanks for letting us know about that. I might have killed one of your little soldiers." Two can play at this game.

"Reggie was fine. I had complete faith in you Tris. You really are what this Resistance needs."

Tobias steps in front of me, "If you do that again, if you put her I danger–

"You'll do what, exactly?" Nita looks directly up at him, "We're all soldiers, _Four_, you can't protect her from everything, especially not the coming battle. She doesn't even _need_ your protection."

She's right, of course. I don't need Tobias's protection. I can fight my own battles. I put my arm on his shoulder and step around him.

"Look, I agreed to fight for this Resistance but you need to come clean with me. Next time you try a dangerous stunt like that, tell me first or you can consider one of your precious Divergent soldiers done with this."

Nita steps up close to me. Our eyes are level but I still get the feeling she is staring down at me, it pisses me off. The flint in her eyes has been struck and I see a low burn there. Her voice growls, "You won't leave Tris. Because whether I like it or not, you're our one shot at bringing the simulation down. If you won't fight, then we'll all die and it'll be on your head."

Whether she likes it or not? Then it hits me. Is Nita jealous? Of what, me? I can't ask in that moment though because the lights turn off and one of the white concrete walls lights up with a projected image. She gives me one last glance before walking off to a group of similarly dressed people, other soldiers I guess. We all scramble to pull our chairs around to face the screen.

And then I witness the most incredible thing in my short life. Almost as awesome as the Exo, The Matrix was amazing.

We were halfway through the movie when Cristina leant over to me and whispered, "We figured out who everyone is. You're totally Neo, Four is Trinity." Tobias overhears her.

"I am _not_ Trinity."

"Of course you are," says Uriah, "You're totally in love with the The One, because Tris is like a crazy ass Divergent prodigy. Unless you want to be Morpheus."

"Nah, Nita is Morpheus," Christina nods in her direction across the room. Nita is really into the movie, she cheers with everyone else when a totally badass bit of fighting happens.

Zoe overhears the conversation and snorts. "I'd think Nita is more like one of human brothers. Probably Tank."

"But Tank is nice," Christina protests, "And Nita is a cold-hearted bitch."

"Maybe you just have to get to know her," says Zoe gently, "But I think David is Morpheus. When you meet him you'll totally understand."

"Who are you guys?" I ask Christina and Uriah.

"We're the faithful sidekicks. But I reckon I should be the Oracle and Uriah can be the spoon boy," says Christina matter-of-factly.

"Try to realise the truth, Tris, that it is not the spoon that bends, only yourself." Uriah intones before ruining by grinning.

"Can you actually tell the future," I ask her.

Christina puts on a pretty good impression of the Oracle's voice, "Sorry kid, you're not the One."

I feel strangely let down by this and we all subside into silence. And then everything in the movie goes wrong. That bastard, Cypher, betrays them all and Morpheus is captured. I can't help but look at Caleb across the room at this point.

The situation is dire, the entire room of people watching is silent with the tension as they are about to pull Morpheus's neck needle thing out. I grip my seat silently praying they'll find another way. Then Neo and Trinity go back into the Matrix for Morpheus.

And that building lobby scene. I cheered along with the rest of the crowd as Trinity and Neo rescue Morpheus.

I nudge Tobias, "You are _totally_ Trinity." He gives me a stony expression at me and I laugh. "You know it's true." He just rolls his eyes which I find even funnier.

The end of the movie was terrifying. Watching Neo die and then Trinity professing her love all while their ship was being destroyed. I take Tobias's hand in mine and squeeze, trying to will Neo to survive. And he does. Then he doesn't even have to dodge bullets he just stops them in his path. He became a Divergent. And I cheer along with everyone else as the movie ends and the lights come back on. I feel elated and energised.

"That was totally awesome." Says Christina.

"I thought you guys would like it," says Zoe, "it's kind of scary though, how similar but different our situations are. Except instead of artificially intelligent robots doing it to us, it's our fellow human beings."

Well. That really puts a downer on the mood. But Christina refuses to be sobered, she turns to me and says in her Oracle voice, "See kid, all you had to do was believe."

I snort, "You should take your own advice. Being a Divergent is easy, all you have to do is believe."

"Truth," says Uriah, "Remember Christina, there is no spoon." He laughs as she punches him.

"You guys should get to bed, you've all got pilot and Exo training tomorrow," says Zoe herding us out of the room.

* * *

**AN: I may be a bit sparse on the updates for the next couple of weeks as I have major assessment coming up for uni. I will be coming back to this though so don't worry. :D**

**Also, please leave a review, they really help me out with motivation and how the story is going.**


	21. Chapter 21

"I don't like it," Tobias whispers to me that night. We are all getting ready for bed, but he just sits on his. The others are across the room murmuring their own conversations.

"Don't like what?" I go and sit next to him and he leans his cheek on the top of my head.

"I don't like what Nita is implying. About using you."

I turn and face him. I thought he might say this and I have been thinking about it. "Nita says I'm this one chance they've got at bringing down the simulation. They need me."

"To what extent? You don't owe them anything."

"We have to fight, Tobias. You can see this, right?" I look into his eyes and see a vulnerability there, "We're soldiers. We're Dauntless, we have to be brave and fight for what's right."

Tobias closes his eyes and breathes out, "I can't lose you."

Oh, so that's what this is about, "And you won't," I say gently, "But this is a war and we have to take risks. If the resistance wants to use me, then maybe I'll have to be used. Maybe that's what soldiers are there for." I draw him in close and just sit in his arms, "You know I can't lose you either, right?"

"I know. It's just I'm not the one being told she's 'The One', you can't make stupid sacrifices Tris."

"Stupid sacrifices?" I say flatly and sit back, "So my mum made a 'stupid sacrifice' when she saved me did she?"

"That's not what I meant,"

"Then what did you mean?"

"You can't take ten bullets to the chest and live Tris," his voice is strained.

"I know that," I growl back, what did he think I was, a child? "We're not in a story, Tobias. But if I have to make the sacrifice so the ones I love can live then I'm going to do it. Because that's what soldiers do."

He sits back as well and we stare at each other. His voice is fast and low, "Soldiers don't _want_ to die. You told me you wanted to live, Tris. You already did the sacrifice thing once in Erudite headquarters. I can't let you repeat that."

"You don't get to make the call. I love you Tobias, but this war involves everyone and if I can end it so we can live then I will. Whatever the cost." I turn away from him and leave the room.

He doesn't try to come after me.

I walk the hallways trying to figure out everything in my head. I don't need his protection, I can make my own choices and if I can make one where we all live happily ever after then I'll do that, but if not then I would do the next best thing. And if it meant sacrificing myself then fine, because it would be for the people I love. I wouldn't do it for myself, or my parents, it would be for him.

The hallways are dark lit only by eerie blue lights every five paces or so, and only a few people wander down them. I realise I'm outside Cara's hospital room and I shrug and enter. She's asleep, I turn to leave again but I almost walk into Mathew. He looks exhausted and motions for me to be quiet and he takes me into another room off from the hospital.

"What's up?" he asks as we enter a small office with a desk and a couch.

I shrug not really wanting to talk about it to one of Nita's lackeys. He looks at me for a long time before muttering something about tea and leaving the room.

I lean back on the couch and rub my face. I am exhausted but I don't feel like sleeping. Or going back to the room to confront Tobias. I hear the door open again and Mathew walks back into the room holding two steaming mugs. I take a sip of the one he hands me and a warm minty flavour immediately fills my mouth. I sigh and Mathew smiles at me as he settles onto the other side of the couch.

"Nothing like peppermint tea after a rough day." He sounds like he expects me to talk but I remain silent.

I'm halfway through my tea lost in my own thoughts before a question drifts up from the dregs. "The map," I say.

"What map?" he asks, looking a bit startled.

"We were showed a map when we got here. A map of an impossibly large world, where our city was just a tiny dot. It seemed so insignificant. Those other places… do they have people in them as well?" I don't know why I ask, maybe just to try and grasp whether setting the people enslaved under the simulation will make a difference? Will it matter if we can free them? I want to explore the world, the stars, everything. And I want to explore it with Tobias.

Mathew grimaces. "They do. But they won't help us. There used to be a time when all of the world was connected and people could communicate in an instant. People on the opposite side of the Earth, sharing ideas and news and wars and trade. During the Freedom War the entire world was dragged into it, every country fighting to control their own population." He gets up and sifts through some of the papers in a drawer and pulls out a copy of the map which he hands to me.

"We don't know very much about what's happening currently but the Utopian cities do have a trade network with a number of other countries. Mainly shipping, but there are far too many pirates on the waters for anything of value to come into the ports. The last bit of news we managed to hack gave us an update on a shipment of metals and ore that came in from Australia." I don't know which country Australia is but Mathew catches my look and points it out on the map. "Not exactly vital information but it does mean there are other countries out there with enough of a society to manage to have a trade route set up. Whether or not those things are mined using a slave army is still unknown. Last I read though, I'm pretty sure Africa descended into chaos during the War and Europe didn't come out of it much better…" he subsides into silence, lost in his own speculation.

I look at the map unable to fathom that there was so much more _world_ out there. And other people, living completely different lives to us. I sincerely hoped they were free. I look up at Mathew and catch him staring at me. He seems like he has a deep understanding in his eyes, like he could fathom what I'm thinking.

"How did you join the resistance?" I ask, mainly to get him to stop staring at me.

He stiffens and his eyes narrow before he sighs, "I was born into one of the Utopian cities, below the Scar. I was trained to experiment developing the serums."

Oh. "Why did you leave?"

"Because, even after all the brainwashing, I recognised just how fucked up their version of a perfect society was. I left and found the Resistance. I didn't want anything to do with the Programmers or Government."

"Are there others like you?"

He snorts, "I don't know. I haven't met anyone else. We're told from a very young age that the Sims were made to serve us in a perfect society. The simulation is perfection and we, in the Utopian cities were the Gods to be served. But I realised that was bullshit when I watched the Programmers kill a Sim. He was a Divergent, the simulation failed him, and his mind realised and cut him out. It happens from time to time, I knew this, but I didn't know what happened to them. He couldn't be re-inserted, he _wanted_ to be. I thought maybe then they'd just let him live in our society. I thought because he had defeated the simulation then he could live like us, controlling it. But they killed him. And then I realised how fragile that perfect world is. All the people in those cities are just like the Sims, fed a lie but born into the privilege of freedom."

"Wow. So we both came from societies of lies then." I feel a kind of kinship to him then.

He laughs, but I don't hear any humour there, "I suppose you're right. Maybe we can create something different if we ever manage to bring it down. A new society, where we tell the truth to everyone."

"And we help people."

"And we're brave."

"And peaceful."

"And we strive for knowledge and understanding." He smiles sadly at me, "I don't know whether that society could be a reality."

"Why not?" I ask, "Why can't we create something like this?"

"Maybe we could, maybe we couldn't. We fight against ourselves in every possible situation. Why do you do it? Why do you fight?" He's serious now and he looks at me with his dark eyes and his head bent to one side trying to understand me.

"To protect the ones I love," I answer immediately.

"Even if it means dying?"

"If that's what it takes. If it's necessary to protect them." I say it intensely, where was he going with this?

"That sounds pretty selfish to me." He says it with utter conviction and it stops me in my tracks.

"What?"

"Well where does that leave your loved ones? In a broken society mourning your death?"

"It won't be a broken society. I wouldn't die for nothing."

"But you'd still be dead. I don't know whether your loved ones would prefer to live in a world without you." He shrugs, "I wouldn't."

I have nothing to say. I thought sacrificing myself for love would be selfless. Maybe it would be but then I think of Tobias. _I can't lose you_. Mathew has just made me even more confused than before. Now I don't know what to do.

"Thanks for the tea," I say standing up abruptly.

Mathew stays seated, "You're welcome. If you need to talk, you know where I am."

I nod and leave, meandering slowly down the halls trying to untangle my thoughts. I get to the dorm none the wiser as to what I want to do, so I just take my shoes off quietly and lie on my back staring into the dark ceiling. Tobias is breathing gently in the next bed over. I turn my back to him and fall asleep.

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**AN: Please leave a review, they help me a lot. :D**


	22. Chapter 22

The next week passes in a blur. It seems Nita is content to let us do what we want as long as we're ready to fight in her plan. I don't speak to Tobias very much and he doesn't try to talk to me. We don't have much time to speak anyway, with him doing pilot training. Cara is slowly recovering and has moved into the dorm with the rest of us, she still has to use crutches to get around though. Caleb hasn't spoken a word to me since I beat his face black and blue. If he sees me he immediately lowers his eyes. The first time he entered the mess hall I stared straight at him and him at me, until I heard the sniggers. People were smirking at him as if they knew what this was about. I just turned and left, my meal uneaten.

I spend most of the days with Christina and Uriah, coaching them on the Exos. Christina still hasn't managed Divergence and she is frustrated which tends to make her snappy and angry. It was for the third time this week that I tried helping her by telling her it was her subconscious she needs to control, not the suit. She snaps at me and I throw my hands into the air.

"Fine. I'll just leave." I walk out leaving her in the training room. I decide to visit Mathew, who I haven't talked to since _that_ night. I look for him in his office but he's not there. I ask one of the other people floating around the hospital for directions and eventually find myself in a white lab. Mathew is looking at something under a microscope as I walk in the door. He looks up and smiles at me.

"Hi." I say.

"Hey, what brings you here?" He pulls one of the stools over to him as I tell him about Christina's frustration and my own at not being able to help her.

He looks at me with sympathy. "Maybe you're trying to train her the wrong way. It took me ages to master one of the suits, but I had to master myself before then."

"You're a Divergent?" somehow this surprises me, but I probably should have known.

"Yeah, but it took me ages to become one."

"How'd you do it?"

"Those fear simulations you guys went through during Dauntless training. Over and over again, until I would realise that it wasn't real, that it was all in my head, and because it was _my_ head, I could change it. I think Christina would be able to master the technique pretty fast. She already went through Dauntless training. Maybe she just needs something or someone to show her what she's capable of."

"So," I ask, "Do you have any spare simulation serum?"

He laughs, "We have a spare supply for when people want to train for Divergence." He gets up and goes to a cupboard, taking out two syringes with orange serum inside.

He hands them to me, "Thanks," I say as I turn to leave.

"Tris," I turn back and see Mathew looking troubled, "Just be prepared for what's coming."

"What's coming?"

"I don't know. But it's not good." He turns back to whatever he's looking at and I walk back down to the Cavern to Christina. I want to know what Mathew means by that. The coming war?

As I walk back into the room I see Christina sitting against the wall with her head in her hands. Uriah is in the cavern practicing in the Exo that he finally learned to ride a couple of days ago.

"I've got a surprise." I say as I walk in.

Christina looks up eagerly. When I pull the simulation serum out from behind my back her face drops immediately and she looks like she's going to cry, "You're freaking kidding me. That is the worst surprise ever, Tris."

I look guiltily at the needles in my hands, "Yeah, it's a pretty bad surprise. But Mathew said the fear training is the best way to become Divergent."

"I am not going back inside my fear landscape. It is terrifying." She stares up at me intensely.

"That's the point. But the point is also to master your fears. And the point of Divergence is to control them, and defeat them, by changing them. And of course, I'm coming with you."

She grumbles a bit before I can coax her to take the needle. I stick my own in my neck and hope that with all the attempts at Exo training she would be able to become a Divergent quickly.

And then we're in her fear landscape.

Moths. Moths everywhere.

I can't see my own hand in front of my face and all around me is the soft brush of a million moth wings. They tickle. Then I hear Christina scream.

I try and brush my way through the moths and find Christina. I firmly keep my mouth closed but it isn't helping as the moths try and make their way up my nose. I almost trip over the huddled body of Christina on the floor.

"Chris–

I immediately choke on a moth and have to spit it out. I cover my mouth with my hands and get down on my knees to speak to her in a muffled voice.

"Christina, this isn't real."

"It feels real!" she screeches, her voice breaking.

"But it isn't, we're in your head."

"There are moths in my head!"

I have to try a different tactic. "Christina, they're making you scared but what are moths scared of? What can you do to control the moths?"

"I don't know! They're just stupid moths!"

"Exactly. And what do stupid moths like?"

Christina raises her head slowly up to me, flinching and twitching as the moths try to land on her. "Light?" she whispers, barely opening her mouth.

"So let's find some light."

I take her hand and in a flurry of wings we stand up. She's still shaking, trying to claw them away from herself as we walk through the moths. But, slowly they draw away from us towards something else. I smile, she's just taken her first step towards Divergence. There, before us is a giant lamp and all the moths are flying towards it only to be fried by the heat.

Then the fear landscape changes.

We stand on a tiny ledge and stare into an abyss. A massive canyon of darkness below us. Christina has her back to the rock wall and her eyes closed. Then the ledge starts retracting into the wall and she screams.

"Christina!" I grab her hand as the ledge shudders. "What are you afraid of?"

She shakes her head wordlessly as the ground we stand on slowly disappears. I take her face in my hands and look right in her eyes. "What are you afraid of?"

She glances at the darkness, "oblivion, the fall…"

"Then embrace it. This isn't real." And I take her hand and lead her right to the edge. "You have to jump first."

She squeezes my hand so hard I think it's going to break but then she leaps and I fly off the ledge right behind her.

We continue like that, each time her fear landscape changing and Christina changing with it.

Then we stand in a street, we're in the city again, and marching towards us are a hundred Dauntless soldiers. Their eyes are blank as they move forward following a leader, a leader with blonde hair and a kind face, Will.

"Oh my God…" Christina whispers before turning and facing me. "This wasn't here before, what do I do Tris?" Her breathing is accelerated and I can see the absolute terror in her eyes.

But all I can do is look at her, because I'm unsure. I watch them marching closer and Christina and I just stand frozen. "I don't know…" my own breaths are coming short, I don't know what to do.

"A coward would shoot him," I suddenly say turning to her, "A coward would shoot them, would shoot the innocent to survive."

Then the army reaches us and Will motions for them to stop. His face is still blank as he stares at us. "Choose." He says.

"What?" whispers Christina.

Will points at a gun which has materialised at her feet. "Choose."

Christina slowly bends and picks it up. She turns to face me, tears streak down her face as she lifts the gun to point right between my eyes.

I close my eyes and face her. It is no less than I deserve.

Nothing happens for a tense few seconds and I hear Will say, "Choose." It is more forceful, as though he was running out of patience.

Christina is sobbing, "I can't. I can't do it. Oh god, Tris, what do I do?"

I open my eyes as the gun falls from her hands, "Make a choice Christina."

She looks between Will and I glancing at each of us and the gun on the ground before slowly, haltingly walking up to Will. She stares into his face and I know she is searching for something, for recognition, for love, for the person she knew. She doesn't find it and her face crumples as she lifts the gun in Will's hands to point at her head.

"I've chosen." And the gun goes off.

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**AN: Please leave a review :) They really help me out.**


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